


Where Did We Go

by blurryfics



Series: Rose Colored Boy [3]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Blurryface Era, Childhood Friends, Emotional Roadshow World Tour, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Fluff, Josh is in Ohio, Kissing, Living Together, Music, Romance, Tension, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 43,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22149427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blurryfics/pseuds/blurryfics
Summary: It’s been five years since you shared a kiss with Tyler on the hill overlooking Columbus. Your relationship has been smooth sailing since then, however as Tyler’s fame has continued to grow, you’ve found yourself struggling to navigate the new experiences that come along with it.Now, Tyler has just returned home from the last leg of the Blurryface tour, but there’s only a few short weeks before the Emotional Roadshow begins. You’re looking forward to enjoying the break and spending time with him after a long month apart, but it seems Tyler has other plans…
Relationships: Tyler Joseph/Reader, Tyler Joseph/You
Series: Rose Colored Boy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1412992
Comments: 12
Kudos: 12





	1. Before You Read

Hey, everyone! As per usual before a series, I wanted to include a few disclaimers and things to keep in mind before you read Where Did We Go. Most of it is repeats of the warnings from Prove Me Wrong and Realize That It’s Gone, although it’s a lot less serious. Anyway, here’s what to keep in mind:

  * First and foremost, this is the third (and final) book in the Rose Colored Boy trilogy! If you have not read Prove Me Wrong and Realize That It's Gone yet, be sure to do so first so that you know what’s going on!
  * The timeline is a little bit wonky still, but I did better!
  * The reader in this series uses she/her pronouns.
  * I’ve never been to Ohio, and therefore know nothing about what people do there/what the weather is like/what grocery stores people go to/etc. All of this information is based off of where I live, and it may not be entirely accurate! (But this is fiction, so I can do that.)
  * Similar to above, all mentions of preparing for tour/meetings/etc. are based on what I _think_ it would be like rather than reality, and may not be entirely accurate, but it’s fiction :)
  * The point of view switches between chapters. This should be pretty obvious because it will either be written in second person (you) or first person (I) depending on who the chapter is focused on. Even chapters will be Tyler’s point of view and odd will be yours/the reader’s. The only exception is the epilogue, which will also be yours/the reader’s point of view.
  * There are recurring themes of anxiety and depression within this series, so please be wary when reading (there will still be individual warnings on the chapters). I know everyone experiences these differently, but like all other fics, they are based on my own experiences with mental health.
  * And finally, as is mentioned in the teaser, the events in this story take place five years after those of Realize That It’s Gone. 



I think that’s everything! The first chapter will be up tomorrow. Enjoy Where Did We Go :)


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 2101
> 
> Author’s Note: The first chapter of Where Did We Go! I honestly feel like these last two weeks flew by. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

You rocked back and forth on your heels, keeping a careful eye on the people around you, looking for anyone that may let their gaze linger on you a little too long. Most didn’t even give you a second glance, they were too focused on their own returning family members or getting to security to worry about you.

They had told you it was a bad idea to wait for Tyler inside the airport, claiming there was too much potential for people to recognize you and cause a scene. You ignored the warnings, partially because you didn’t want to wait in some nondescript SUV outside the airport for Tyler and partially because you still had a hard time believing that people were going to seek you out. Tyler was the famous one, after all; you were just his girlfriend.

A new wave of people began to filter through the doors. You pushed your sunglasses down a little - you _had_ received a few funny looks for wearing them inside - so that you could get a better look at the people that were walking past you, seeking out Tyler’s familiar profile. Any other defining features of his would no doubt be covered in order to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.

You eventually spotted him towards the end of the crowd, wearing his own pair of sunglasses and with his hood pulled up over his head, keeping most of his face hidden. Not wanting to draw too much attention to yourself, you pushed down the desire to run towards him and throw your arms around him to instead casually walk his way. He noticed you immediately and his face grew into the familiar gorgeous smile that you had missed so dearly.

“Y/N,” he grinned, keeping his voice low. “I didn’t realize you were coming.”

“I wanted to see you as soon as possible. I’ve missed you so much.”

Tyler had been in Australia for the last month, finishing up the last leg of the Blurryface tour. You had been caught up with other responsibilities - mostly helping Carter and Marenna with their wedding preparations - meaning you hadn’t been able to fly over and see him. With the added complications of time zones and Tyler being busy enough as it was, it felt like you had barely been able to talk to him over the last month. It was difficult, but you were glad that he was home to spend time with you now.

“I’ve missed you too,” he said, looping his free arm around your waist and pressing a quick kiss to your temple.

“How was your flight?”

“Long. The first one wasn’t so bad because I had Josh with me, but the flight from LA to here was boring. I just watched movies.”

“Did you sleep at all?”

“A little bit here and there. I was trying not to mess up my sleep schedule too much because of the time difference, but I’m still exhausted. I can’t wait to be at home again.”

You leaned your head a little further into Tyler’s shoulder as you walked, “Soon, love. We just have to get your things and then we can drive home.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” he smiled, quickening his pace.

The two of you quickly made your way through the airport toward baggage claim, trying your best to not draw too much attention to yourselves. Although your oversized hoodies and sunglasses - and in Tyler’s case, a hat as well - were meant to conceal who you really were from the public eye, you were pretty sure it was only drawing more attention your way. It was hard not to giggle at some of the funny looks you received from people you passed by.

“Did you see that guy’s face?” Tyler whispered. He was grinning.

“Yes,” you said, barely containing laughter. “I’m pretty sure he thought we were the biggest tools in the airport.”

“I mean, maybe we are.”

“Maybe _you_ are, Mr. I-Just-Got-Home-From-A-World-Tour.”

“Oh, is that the game we’re going to play, Ms. I’m-Dating-A-Rockstar?”

“I think calling yourself a rockstar kind of defeats the point,” you smiled.

He sighed, “You’re right.”

You lightly rubbed his back while he pouted, maybe a bit more dramatically than he needed to. It wasn’t until you arrived at baggage claim that he dropped the act.

“I’ll go grab your stuff,” you said. “You stay over here and try not to get recognized.”

“I can do that. Thank you.”

Tyler gave you a quick peck before you started to walk towards the crowd of people that had begun to form.

“Two bags? Or three?” you asked.

He held up two fingers, to which you gave a thumbs up in return. You joined the crowd of strangers and tried to ignore the sideways glances you were being given. Your focus right now was on getting Tyler’s bags and getting back to the car so that you could finally see his face and give him a proper kiss.

It felt like an eternity before Tyler’s bags finally showed up, sporting colorful luggage tags that you had bought for him after he kept accidentally taking Josh’s bags home. You grabbed them and wheeled them back over to where Tyler was standing, playing on his phone. If you hadn’t known any better, you would have never thought it was him. He must have heard you coming, because he looked up right as you were about to get his attention.

“What has you so happy?” you asked, noticing the big grin on his face.

“I’m just happy to be home and have you close to me again. I don’t like doing tours without you.”

“I know you don’t, but you’re home now and we have three whole weeks together, at home, before we have to leave again. You don’t have to do another tour without me for a long time.”

“And I’m very happy about that.”

He gave you another quick kiss before taking one of the suitcases from you. Together, you walked back towards the parking garage, unable to keep the smiles off your faces.

It was a relief when you finally made it out of the airport. The parking garage was mostly empty, aside from a few people who barely gave you a second glance as you walked past. As soon as they passed, you pulled your hood down and pushed your sunglasses up onto your head.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Tyler smiled, doing the same. “But I’m glad it did.”

“Me too. I don’t think I would have been patient enough to wait for you to talk to fans,” you laughed.

You opened the trunk of the car and helped Tyler load his suitcases into it. As soon as everything was secure and the trunk was closed, he put his hands on your waist and turned you towards him, giving you the first good look at his face since before he had left. There was something about looking into his chocolate brown eyes that made you feel safe. You had missed that feeling.

“You’re so beautiful, Y/N. How did I get so lucky?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

He smiled before finally pulling you into a kiss. His hand rested carefully on the side of your face, keeping you close to him. It was familiar and exciting all at once. You never wanted him to pull away, even if it meant standing in an airport parking garage for eternity.

Tyler was the first to pull away from the kiss, but he was far from ready to let you out of his arms. He moved his lips to your forehead and let them rest there, using his arms to pull your body against his. You happily wound your arms around him, taking in everything you could about the moment.

“I missed you so much,” he mumbled into your forehead. “So, so much.”

“Ty, it’s ok,” you said, rubbing his back once again. “You’re home now.”

“I know. This last month was just hard and it feels like there’s this huge weight off of my shoulders now that I’m with you again. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

He gave you one more kiss before finally pulling away so that you could drive home. You had forgotten how much you loved drives with Tyler, when you could hold his hand and listen to music together and, if you were really lucky, he would sing to you.

“I feel so much better already.”

You reached over the console and grabbed his hand, lacing your fingers with his. He lightly squeezed your hand, his mouth immediately curling into the smile that had made you fall for him in the first place.

“That’s good.”

“Thank you for coming to pick me up, by the way. I thought I was going to have to take a car home, but I’d much rather be with you.”

“Of course, Ty. You know that I couldn’t wait another hour to see you.”

“I don’t think I could have either. I would have been impatient the entire ride home.”

“Well now you can relax.”

“Finally,” he said, adjusting himself a bit more in the seat. “Just don’t hit any potholes.”

“I’ll try my best.”

* * *

Tyler was facedown on the couch with his arm draped over the side within minutes of you arriving home. His suitcases were abandoned in the entryway, making you giggle as you stepped around them to hang up your keys. It seemed taking off his shoes was the only thing he could handle in his exhausted state.

“Tired, Ty?” you asked as you began to wheel his luggage towards the stairs.

He mumbled something incoherent into the couch. You shook your head and began to carefully get his things up the stairs towards your bedroom. If they were already halfway to where they needed to be, Tyler would be more likely to unpack them in a timely manner. That was something you had learned a long time ago.

“Ok, all your stuff is upstairs for you to unpack when you feel like it,” you said, walking over to where Tyler was laying and pressing a kiss to his head.

“Where are you going?”

“I was going to go organize some stuff in the office. I’ve been cleaning out old files and stuff while you’ve been gone.”

“Will you stay and cuddle with me instead?”

You smiled, “You know I can’t say no to that.”

Tyler sat up, giving you enough room on the couch to lay down. While you got comfortable, he took off his hat and ruffled his hair.

“Ok, come here,” you laughed.

Tyler instantly laid on top of you, resting his head right in the crook of your neck. You began to run your hands through his hair, occasionally lightly scratching his head. His arms were wrapped lightly around you, tracing idle patterns on your back.

“Are you going to want me to cut your hair soon?” you asked, noticing how long the sides were getting.

“Yeah, although I think I’m going to keep the top longer.”

“I like you with longer hair.”

“Me too.”

“We can cut it tomorrow. I don’t want you falling asleep while I have clippers near your head.”

“I’m not going to fall asleep anytime soon,” he argued, but you could tell just by the way that he was talking that he was beginning to get tired.

“Alright, love. You keep telling yourself that.”

“Thanks for taking my stuff upstairs, by the way. I really appreciate that.”

“Of course.”

“Now I just have to unpack all of it.”

“You don’t have to do that today, Ty. We can just relax.”

“Relax. Yeah, I like that plan.”

“I’ll stay here as long as you want me to.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Tyler lifted his head just long enough to give you a kiss before laying back down again. His breathing was already beginning to slow down and the patterns he was drawing on your back came to a stop as he started to drift off. Since he wasn’t going to be a good conversation partner for much longer, you decided to put on a TV show you both liked to keep yourself entertained while he slept.

You couldn’t help the smile on your face as you sat there on the couch, cuddled up with your sleeping boyfriend as you watched TV. It was still hard for you to believe sometimes that Tyler loved you so much, or even loved you at all, but you wouldn’t trade it for the world. 


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 2096
> 
> Author’s Note: The first Tyler chapter of this book! I hope you enjoy this one :)

The TV was the first thing that I heard as I finally started to wake up, followed closely by a number of other things. Y/N was still running her hand through my hair, very nearly putting me right back to sleep. Part of me wanted to pretend that I hadn’t woken up yet, just so I could take in everything about the moment and avoid the responsibilities that would inevitably start to pour in.

My plan only lasted for a few minutes before I was tilting my head up towards Y/N, unable to keep my eyes off of her for too long. I had missed her so much over the last month that I could hardly believe that I was home again, napping on our couch and being close to her. She smiled at me once she realized I was awake.

“Good morning, sunshine,” she said, moving her hand from my hair to instead rest on my back.

“No,” I whined. “Keep doing that.”

“Ty, I’ve been playing with your hair for almost three hours now.”

“Three hours?” I asked, my eyes going wide. “Why did you let me sleep that long?”

“You were tired! And you were so peaceful while you were sleeping and I got to cuddle with you…” she slowly trailed off. “I was going to wake you up soon so that we could make dinner, anyway.”

“What are we having?”

“Pasta. I didn’t want to make some elaborate meal because I wanted as much time to relax with you as possible.”

“I’ll help you.”

“And by help do you mean follow me around the kitchen and try to distract me?”

“Mhmm,” I mumbled into her shoulder.

“Ok, come on, sleepyhead. I’m getting hungry.”

I slowly sat up and moved so that Y/N could get off the couch. While she wandered into the kitchen to start getting things ready, I took a moment to stretch all the muscles that had gotten tight from the plane and sleeping on the couch. Once I felt adequately stretched out, I joined her in the kitchen.

“Do you want to be in charge of the noodles or the bread?” she asked.

I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, lowering my head so that it was resting on her shoulder. She tilted her head slightly so that it was resting against mine.

“What’s easier?” I laughed.

“They’re both easy, Ty,” she smiled. “It’s just a matter of preference.”

“I can do the bread. If I’m in charge of the noodles, I might fall asleep again before they finish cooking.”

“You just slept for three hours! How could you possibly need to sleep more?”

“I had a busy month! It’s not easy to play sold out shows every night, you know.”

“Ok, ok, point taken.”

“Thank you,” I grinned, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.

Y/N was quiet for a little as she filled a pot with water and set it on the stove to start boiling. Once that was done, she turned in my arms so that we were now facing one another.

“And now you have three weeks until you get busy again.”

My shoulders tensed. I would hardly call the three weeks that I had off “a break”. Between meetings, final rehearsals, and other last minute preparations we would have to do, there was hardly any time left to relax. Not to mention that this was going to be our biggest tour yet, which only added to the stress that I was already feeling.

I just hoped that Y/N would understand if I was busier than usual.

“Right,” I said, ignoring the discomfort that was beginning to swell in my stomach.

“Do you want anything to drink while we cook?” she asked.

“Do we have Red Bull?”

“I picked some up when I went shopping yesterday so that we would have some when you got back.”

Y/N slid out of my arms and over to the fridge where, sure enough, there was plenty of fresh Red Bull. She grabbed one and tossed it to me, which I nearly missed because of my exhaustion.

“Sorry, not my best idea,” she winced.

“It’s ok, I still caught it.”

She pressed a quick kiss on my lips as she passed by on her way to get pasta from the cupboard. Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t so ready to let her go. I used my free hand to catch her arm and bring her back towards me so that I could wrap my arms around her again.

“Ty,” she pouted, sticking her bottom lip out. “I need to make dinner.”

“I don’t think letting me look at you for thirty seconds will set you back too much,” I smiled.

“It might.”

I leaned forward so that our foreheads were pressed together, “I thought you missed me.”

“I did, but I’m also very hungry,” she laughed.

My smile grew even more. I didn’t think that I would ever get tired of hearing her laugh.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you too.”

I tilted my head a little so that I could kiss her. Her hand moved to the side of my face, holding me close. It was hard not to smile as I deepened the kiss.

“Ok, Joseph, you’ve distracted me long enough,” she smiled when she finally pulled away. “I’m going to make pasta now.”

“Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll start cutting up the bread.”

“Thank you. Also, I was thinking we could eat out on the porch tonight, if you want.”

“I would like that.”

Y/N smiled, “Then we have a deal.”

* * *

There was a light breeze as I followed Y/N out onto the porch. The sun was just barely beginning its descent below the horizon, putting the first bits of pale pink light on the clouds. I took a moment to stand still and look out over the forest that served as our backyard, taking in the fresh air and various sounds coming from the trees. If there was one thing that I missed about home - aside from Y/N, when she wasn’t with me - it was our backyard.

“Are you coming, Ty?” Y/N asked.

“Yeah, I’m coming. Just needed a moment to take everything in.”

She smiled at me as I joined her at the table. The metal was still warm from the afternoon sun, but not too hot that it was painful to sit on. Once I was settled, Y/N stretched her legs out so that they were resting on top of mine.

I had forgotten how much I missed nights like these.

“Is everything ready for the wedding this weekend?” I asked as I mixed up my noodles.

“I think there were a few last minute things that Carter and Marenna had to do, but other than that they’re good to go. I got most of my responsibilities done last week, thankfully.”

“Are you excited?”

“I don’t think excited begins to cover it,” she laughed. “I mean, my brother is getting _married_.”

“I can’t believe it. I still remember sitting in your den with him when we were like fifteen and playing Mario Kart for an entire day.”

Y/N smiled for a moment before it quickly faded again. “Yeah, now you and I are out of town most of the year and Carter and Marenna have their family and Josh is off in California when you actually do get a break.”

I rubbed her shin, hoping it would provide some reassurance. “Hey, it’s not all bad, is it? We still have a lot of good moments.”

“You’re right,” she nodded. “I guess this wedding is just bringing up a lot of feelings for me.”

Doubt immediately flooded my mind. Were the feelings related to me? Was she finally realizing that I wasn’t good enough for her after all these years? My hands were starting to shake, so I moved them away from Y/N’s leg so that she wouldn’t be able to tell. Thankfully her attention was on her food at the moment, meaning that I could take some deep breaths without her noticing.

“Are you ok, Ty?”

So much for that.

“Yeah, I just - you don’t - is it bringing up feelings about me?”

Y/N reached over so that she could take hold of my hand. “Only positive ones, love. I guess, sometimes, I just miss how things used to be.”

I nodded. In an instant, all the fears were gone again. Y/N had always been good at that.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” she smiled, giving my hand a little squeeze before letting go again. “And that also reminds me, Carter said we’re in charge of taking care of their son Max during the reception.”

“Max!” I gasped. “I haven’t seen that little dude in so long. How is he doing?”

“Ty, I swear he gets cuter by the day. He’s learning all sorts of new words, and he even called me auntie the other day.”

“He called you auntie?”

“Yes! I almost started crying, that’s how cute it was.”

“I hope he still remembers me when I see him,” I said, idly poking at my noodles.

“He asked for you the other day. I would have called, but you mentioned you were busy at the time.”

It was impossible to hold back a smile after hearing that. Although Max wasn’t technically related to me, he still felt just as much like family as my actual nieces did.

“It’s a good thing I’ll have a chance to make up for lost time on Saturday then.”

“Exactly.”

I turned and looked out over the trees again. The sky was growing more pink now, though the sun was still shining brightly in the distance. I was already looking forward to summer nights on tour, wandering around unfamiliar streets with Y/N and pretending like we were kids again.

“Are you sure you’re doing alright, Ty?” she asked.

I turned back to her with a smile, “The best I’ve been in a long time.”

We stayed out on the porch long past the time that we both finished dinner, just enjoying one another’s company and the sounds that came along with living next to a forest. With each passing minute, my eyes started to grow heavier and I was beginning to question how much longer I would be able to stay awake. As much as I was enjoying this time with Y/N, I knew it couldn’t last forever.

“I think I’m going to have to call it a night,” I said, finishing off the last sip of my drink. “My eyes don’t want to stay open any longer.”

“Why don’t you head upstairs and get ready for bed then? I’ll clean up the dishes and be up there in a bit.”

“You don’t have to come upstairs with me. I know it’s still early and I’m sure there are things that you would rather be doing.”

“There’s nothing that I would rather be doing than cuddling with you and watching some TV,” Y/N said, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek as she picked up my plate.

“Ok,” I grinned.

I slowly shuffled my way upstairs and into our bedroom. It was tempting to just collapse onto the bed and let myself sink into the mattress that I had missed so dearly, but I knew the second that I laid down there wouldn’t be a getting back up. Instead, I headed into the bathroom to change into pajamas and finish getting ready.

Twenty minutes later, Y/N and I were both curled up in bed in our pajamas. She was resting on my chest, one of her arms slung lazily across my stomach. I was fighting to stay awake, just so that I could appreciate finally being home again and having her in my arms. Tours without Y/N were always hard, even when I wasn’t spending the entire time trying to work up the courage to tell her how I felt.

But I didn’t have to worry about that now, because she was here in my arms and I could tell her that I loved her as many times as I wanted and always hear it in return.

“I love you, Y/N,” I said, finally accepting defeat and letting my eyes close.

“I love you too, Ty. I’m glad you’re home.”

“Me too.”

It only took a few minutes for me to fall asleep with a smile on my face.


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Word Count: 1874
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

“Ok, I’m off to my meetings. I shouldn’t be home any later than four, and feel free to text me if you need anything. I love you.”

Tyler bent over the back of the couch to give you a quick kiss before rushing off towards the door. You barely managed to get in an “I love you too” before it closed with a thud.

Your eyes lingered on the door for a moment, secretly hoping that Tyler would come straight back inside and announce that all of his meetings had been cancelled so he could spend the entire day with you. Two whole days with him hadn’t been even close to enough time together after the month you had spent apart, even though you had known that this moment was coming. The Emotional Roadshow was only three short weeks away and there always seemed to be more details that needed to be ironed out as it drew closer. It was a routine that you had become familiar with over the years.

Deciding that you might as well use your time alone to be productive, you headed upstairs to start folding some laundry. All of Tyler’s tour stuff had finally come through the wash and you were tired of looking at it piled in the corner of the room. At the very least, it would give you something to do for awhile and make Tyler happy whenever he ended up getting home. There was a reason he had been putting it off in the first place.

You switched on some music before piling all the clothes on the bed and starting to sort them into different piles. It was times like these that you really missed having Georgie around. Despite his rambunctious nature when he was younger, he always provided good company when you were feeling particularly lonely. Unfortunately, Tyler had been adamant that he didn’t want any animals in the house, so when the two of you finally moved in together, Georgie went to live with Carter and Marenna. It wasn’t the worst place in the world for him to be since they lived close, but you still often found yourself missing his company, especially since he had calmed down as he got older.

The folding went by quickly as soon as you got into the swing of things. Before you knew it, everything was separated by location and ready to be put into its proper spot. You decided to start with Tyler’s shirts, since that was easily the biggest pile. With a couple tucked under your arm, you headed into his closet and opened the drawer where he kept his shirts.

You sighed as you got a look at the condition of his t-shirts. There weren’t many that he had left behind, but the ones that he had were thrown all over the place, obviously never having been cleaned up after his last-minute packing frenzy. Deciding that it would be easier to start from scratch, you emptied out the drawer and shook out all the shirts so that they could be properly folded.

You had just barely started to fold the first shirt when something on the ground caught your eye. Tyler’s messy handwriting was all over the back of what appeared to be a card, although you couldn’t quite tell when it was half-buried in the shirts. Forgetting your task for the time being, you picked it up to get a closer look.

“You’re kidding,” you mumbled, your face slowly growing into a smile.

In your hand was a postcard from Columbus, Ohio, marked with the date that he had returned from his very first tour. It was the same postcard that he had claimed not to have because he thought you “wouldn’t want a postcard from the place you lived”. Curiosity quickly got the best of you and you flipped the card back over so that you could read whatever message he had left.

After all, his original intention had been to give it to you, right?

_We’re finally back in Ohio. It feels like I’ve been away for a lifetime. I can’t wait to see you again and hear your voice. Man, I’ve missed your voice. And you._

_I love you, Y/N. Sorry I never told you earlier._

You read it over a couple times, letting the words sink in even though you had already heard them a hundred times over. Tyler saying that he loved you - however that may be - never seemed to get old.

Once you were done looking over the postcard, you decided to tuck it back away where you had found it. Maybe you would talk to Tyler about it later and ask why he had chickened out at the last minute, although you were pretty sure you already knew the answer. The beginning of your relationship with Tyler was something that the two of you talked about often, and you were always remembering random stories and questions to tell the other; it wasn’t as hard for you to think about that time now that you knew it all had a happy ending. Still, you found yourself wondering how you had managed to get so lucky sometimes.

* * *

You watched as the clock turned to 5:15, still with no word from Tyler about when he would be home or why he was so late. The frustration and worry was really starting to set in, so you decided it was long past time that you did something about it. Grabbing your phone from the coffee table, you dialed Tyler’s number, confirmed that the call went through, and brought the phone to your ear. Your foot tapped nervously against the coffee table as you waited for it to start ringing.

The phone only rang once before it cut off and you got sent straight to voicemail. Relief about knowing that Tyler was at least ok washed over you, but it was quickly replaced with disappointment that you wouldn’t get a chance to talk to him. With a sigh, you tossed your phone down onto the couch and decided to try calling again in fifteen minutes if you didn’t hear anything from him. Thankfully, your phone vibrated a minute later.

**_Tyler:_ ** _Lots of things going wrong, meetings are going to take awhile, will probably be home late. Don’t wait up for me. I love you_

You clenched your jaw as you typed out a reply, trying not to let your emotions get the best of you. It was just one evening that you had to spend without Tyler, and it’s not like it was something you weren’t used to. It was better that they got things worked out now than having more meetings in the future, right?

**_Y/N:_ ** _No worries, hope everything gets worked out. Thanks for letting me know. I love you too_

Now that you had confirmation that Tyler wouldn’t be home in time to have dinner with you, you decided it was as good a time as any that you made some food for yourself. Once again, you found yourself turning on music to try and fill some of the emptiness of the house. A familiar sense of loneliness started to wash over you, but you pushed it away. You had known from the start that time away from Tyler was just how things went between you two.

Even if he was supposed to have a break.

Half an hour later, you were settled on the couch with a drink and the food that you had made for yourself. Tyler’s plate was wrapped in tinfoil and sitting in the fridge, waiting for him to have whenever he eventually got home. Part of you was still hoping that he would show up out of the blue in the next few minutes.

You opened up your favorite TV show on Netflix and picked up where you had left off the night before, sending another wave of loneliness over you. Everything about the night felt too much like Tyler was on tour again, even though in reality you knew he wasn't more than half an hour away.

That almost made it hurt worse.

You let yourself think about it a moment longer before pushing the thought from your brain and focusing on the TV show. Letting yourself mull over your loneliness was only going to make it that much more difficult. Besides, you had already survived a month without Tyler, what was one more night?

Your phone started ringing shortly after dinner. You practically lunged at it, hoping that it was Tyler finally calling you to let you know that he was on the way home. Although you had missed out on dinner together, there was still enough time for you to cuddle up during a movie and enjoy at least part of the evening together. Unfortunately, it was only Carter.

“Hello?” you answered, accidentally letting a little more disappointment slip into your tone than you had intended.

“Don’t sound so excited to talk to me,” he laughed.

“Sorry, Tyler’s meetings are running late and I haven’t seen him since this morning, so I thought it was him calling to let me know he was on his way home.”

“Yeah, too bad it’s just your dumb brother.”

“Shut up,” you laughed. “You’re not dumb and I’m glad you called. I actually meant to call you earlier today, but I got distracted and forgot.”

“Then it works out.” You could practically see Carter’s smile. “I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing.”

You kicked your feet back up onto the coffee table. “I’ve been better. How are your last minute wedding preparations?”

“Hectic. Marenna’s cousin called us the other day and started making demands about songs that we _had_ to play, but the problem is that we sent the final playlist to the DJ a week ago.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. You’d be surprised by how many crazy demands the guests try to make at _our_ wedding.”

“I can only imagine,” you laughed. “Speaking of which, is there anything that I need to bring to entertain Max? Or do you have that handled?”

“We should have that handled, although I would make sure both you and Tyler are wearing clothes that are easy to move in. He just started learning how to run and he’s surprisingly hard to catch,” he laughed.

“Marenna was telling me about that the other day,” you joined his laughter. “I’ll make sure to pack a backup outfit in case I need it.”

“Good idea. Anyway, you said you’ve been better. What’s up?”

“Oh, you know, just frustrated that Tyler isn’t here. Like, obviously I knew he would have meetings because tour is coming up, but we only had two days together. I was hoping for a little more time.”

“Won’t you have time in the coming weeks?”

“Yeah, but you know how it is. No amount of time ever feels like it’s enough, especially when half of our time together is spent with Josh and a tour crew.”

“Just hang in there, Y/N. He’s only been back for a couple days, I’m sure things will start to balance out before long.”

You sighed, “I really hope you’re right.”


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Word Count: 1942
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

“I don’t know, man, we’re already cutting it pretty close.” Josh’s voice crackled as it came through the speakers of my car. “Do you really think that we can make it work?”

“We don’t really have a choice,” I answered, flipping on my blinker. “I know there’s time constraints and everything, but I really don’t want to give up on the vision that we had for this tour. I think with enough pushing we can get everything we want, but that’s only going to work if they know both of us are on board.”

Josh sighed, loud enough for the call to pick it up. “I’m on board, Tyler, you know that. This whole plan just seems really risky.”

“We’ve pulled off crazier stuff before.”

“You’re right.”

“Alright, man, I’ve got to go,” I said as my house became visible towards the end of the road. “It’s late and I’m exhausted.”

“Sounds good, take it easy for the rest of the night and I’ll see you soon.”

“You too.”

“Later.”

“Bye.”

The call ended, made apparent by the robotic voice telling me exactly that. I switched back to my music, even though it didn’t really matter. By the time that anything started to play, I was already pulling into the driveway and opening the garage door. Relief washed over me the minute that the car was parked and the key was out of the ignition.

I was finally home.

The house was quiet when I stepped through the door into the hallway, meaning that Y/N was already upstairs and most likely fast asleep. That would explain why she never answered my texts letting her know that I was finally on my way home, nearly seven hours after I originally told her I would be. That hadn’t been my intention, but there had been a seemingly never ending list of things that we had to run through. Even still, there were a multitude of details that still needed to be ironed out.

I pushed the thoughts from my head as I kicked off my shoes and set them on the rack among the others. Right now, I needed to focus on taking care of myself, not all the problems that were out of my control for the time being.

As soon as my things were set down and I felt comfortable, I made a beeline for the kitchen to get myself a glass of water. My throat was sore and dry from talking all day. It seemed that nobody wanted to take me seriously unless my voice was raised, meaning that I had nearly lost it entirely over the course of the day. Hopefully things would be better when Josh was here and it wouldn’t be me alone versus a group of tour managers and planners who didn’t understand where I was coming from.

I ended up chugging two glasses of water before I felt satisfied, although there was still an uncomfortable tickle at the back of my throat. Since it wasn’t likely to go away tonight, I decided to ignore it and find some dinner for myself instead. They had given us lunch around noon under the assumption that everyone would be home in time for dinner, meaning it had been ages since my last meal. My stomach was rumbling at the mere thought of food.

I started at the fridge, hoping that Y/N had stuck some leftovers in there or something so that I wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of cooking something and potentially waking her up with all the noise; I wasn’t exactly known for being a quiet cooker. My mouth immediately curled into a smile when I noticed the plate sitting on the middle shelf, covered in a bit of tinfoil. This, of course, also made my mouth start to water when I realized it was chicken and mashed potatoes. It was going to hit the spot perfectly.

Once my food was heated up and I had my third glass of water for the night, I took a seat on the couch and turned the TV on at a low volume so I had something to distract me. My mind was already trying to pull me back to getting wrapped up in the stress of preparing for tour, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it. If I even let myself think about it for a second, then I would inevitably end up obsessing over it until I fell asleep. That was the last thing I wanted after a day like today.

Unfortunately, my distraction techniques only worked for a few minutes before I was zoning out and thinking about all the things that had happened today. Along with making Josh come back to Ohio, they had scheduled two additional meetings for the next week - with the potential of more - so that we could keep tackling all of the issues that had come up. This, of course, meant less time at home with Y/N and more work for me to do even when I was. My stomach was already twisting in discomfort at the thought of telling her that, especially after she had been so excited about me getting home from Australia. She wasn’t going to be happy.

The news could wait until after the weekend, right? I didn’t want to upset her right before her brother’s wedding and we had plans to spend all of Sunday together with no responsibilities. Surely waiting a couple of days wouldn’t hurt.

I managed to get myself back out of my head right as I was finishing up the last little bit of chicken on my plate. The exhaustion was finally starting to set in and I was eager to get up to bed and see Y/N, even if she was asleep. Falling asleep next to her would be enough for me.

Before heading upstairs, I made sure to put my plate in the dishwasher and turn off all the lights that Y/N had been nice enough to leave on for me. It was a small thing to do in return for her leaving some dinner out for me and being patient while I was out at meetings.

I was extra quiet as I crept up the stairs and into our bedroom. The TV was still playing quietly, casting light over the foot of the bed, although Y/N was fast asleep. She didn’t even move as I walked up next to her and gently grabbing the remote so that I could turn the TV off. The sudden silence was a bit unsettling, but even worse was the fact that I hadn’t considered that turning the TV off would mean I was also in the dark.

I slowly shuffled in the direction of the bathroom, using the light of the moon through the window and my hands to find my way to the door. Thankfully we had lived in this house long enough that there was a bit of muscle memory involved too. Once I found the way, I quietly closed the door and flipped the light on, ensuring that I wouldn’t accidentally wake Y/N up with it.

I took my time going through my nightly routine, trying to give myself as much time to fully relax as I could before I finally got in bed. My increasing level of exhaustion seemed to be helping keep my mind distracted, even if it was only being distracted with thoughts of being in my comfy bed. Whatever worked, I guess.

With a clean face and a fresh pair of pajamas on, I flipped off the light and slowly opened the bathroom door. Y/N was still fast asleep, though she had shifted from the last time I had seen her. One of her arms was wrapped tightly around her pillow, but she looked peaceful. I took a moment to admire how beautiful she looked, even when she wasn’t trying. Even after five years, my mind still had a hard time processing that I got to spend the rest of my life with someone as perfect as her.

I finally stopped staring and crawled under the covers next to her. Before getting comfortable, I leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her temple.

“Goodnight, lovely,” I whispered.

“Ty,” she mumbled, beginning to stir a bit. “You’re home.”

There went my goal of not waking her up.

“I’m home.”

She slowly blinked her eyes open and rolled over so that she was facing me. I adjusted myself so that we were at eye level, our noses a few inches apart.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“Are you going to kiss me?” she smiled.

“Sorry, too busy admiring you.”

I leaned forward and kissed her, letting it linger for a little while. Warmth instantly spread throughout my body.

“You taste like toothpaste,” she smiled when she finally pulled away.

“Just brushed my teeth.”

She reached forward and grabbed my hand so that she could run her fingers along my knuckles absentmindedly.

“How were your meetings?”

“Long,” I sighed. “And we didn’t even finish everything we needed to.”

“What does that mean for you?”

I bit down on my lip for a moment, “We’re not sure yet, but they are having Josh fly in from California so that he can be there for everything.”

“They’re making him come over here on his break?” she frowned.

“Yeah, but he’s making the most of it. He’s going to stay with Jordan and I figured we could all get dinner one night or something.”

“That would be nice. I’ve missed him.”

“Well, you’ll see him soon.”

“Good.”

“How was your night here?”

Her smile faltered for a second, “It was ok. I just wish you could have been here.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, grabbing her hand so that I could lightly squeeze it. “But I’m home now and we have all weekend together.”

“Are you excited for the wedding tomorrow?”

“Of course,” I grinned. “We get to get all dressed up and see your family and hang out with Max and dance.”

“I’m excited too.” She started to smile, but quickly tried to hide it.

“Why are you hiding your face?” I asked, reaching out to tilt her chin back up towards me.

“I’m just giddy, I guess, but I feel like it’s stupid to still be giddy about little things when you’ve been dating someone for so long.”

“Of course not. I still get giddy too, you know.”

“Really?”

“Really,” I smiled.

This time it was her that leaned forward for the kiss, though it was deeper than the last one. I used this as an opportunity to pull her closer to me, so that I could fully wrap my arms around her middle and hold her close.

“I love you,” she said, pulling away from the kiss to instead press our foreheads together. Her eyes were shining in the dim light of the bedroom.

“I love you too.”

“You mean it?”

“I mean it.”

I gave her another quick kiss before loosening my grip enough that she could lay back down again. This time, she laid down with her back pressed to my chest. Once she had found a comfortable position, I wrapped my arms back around her and pulled her as close to me as I possibly could.

“Are you comfortable?” she asked.

“Yes. Are you?”

“Mhmm.”

“Let’s get some sleep then. Big day tomorrow.”

“Are you going to be able to sleep?”

“Yeah.”

“Wake me up if you need me, ok?” she said, giving my arm a little pat.

“I will.”

“Goodnight, Ty.”

“Goodnight, lovely.”


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 2019
> 
> Author’s Note: It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the wedding chapter :) and an introduction to Max! I hope you enjoy this one :)

You watched as Marenna and Carter moved slowly around the dance floor. They were so wrapped up in one another that it was almost like nobody else was in the room but them. It was nice to see the two of them so happy - Carter, especially - after the last few months of hectic wedding planning.

Your moment was interrupted by someone tugging on your clothes. Max was standing next to you, one of his little fists clutched tightly around some fabric, looking up at you with wide eyes. You bent down so that you could hear him better.

“What’s up, little dude?” you asked.

“Drink,” he frowned.

“You want some juice?”

He nodded and held his arms out to you. You scooped him up and walked back towards the table where the bag Marenna and Carter had given you was sitting. Shortly after you had set Max down in a chair, someone walked up behind you and placed a hand on your back.

“Need any help?” Tyler asked.

You relaxed once you realized it was Tyler and not some family member who was coming to rope you into a conversation. Your teenage relatives - and some of Marenna’s who hadn’t realized that Tyler was “part of the family” - had already been hovering around you for most of the afternoon, hoping for a chance to talk to Tyler or get a picture. It happened at every family reunion nowadays.

“Yeah, can you make sure he doesn’t run off while I grab him a juice box?” you asked.

“No problem. Hey, woah, little dude,” Tyler said, quickly grabbing away his beer bottle that Max had been reaching for. “That is _not_ for kids.”

“Ty, Carter is going to kill me if he gets his hands on a beer.”

“I grabbed it in time!”

You shook your head as you finally found the juice box buried underneath a mountain of stuff that Carter and Marenna had left for you. Max, upon realizing that you were holding what he was after, started to reach his little arms out towards you, making grabbing motions with his hands.

“Juice.”

“Hold on, bud, I have to get the straw in here for you.”

When Max finally had his drink in his hand and was happily sipping away, you took a seat at the table. People started to walk back towards their own tables now that the first dance was over, happy to go back to their talking and catching up with family members that they hadn’t seen in a few months. You turned to Tyler and held out a hand for him to grab.

“Hey, Ty,” you said, giving him your best smile.

“What do you need?” he laughed.

“Could you go get me a vanilla Coke from the bar? My throat is a little dry.”

“No problem, I needed to get a drink for myself, anyway,” he said, bending down to give you a quick kiss before walking off.

“Thank you.”

You took a second to watch Tyler walk off before turning back to Max. He was still sipping away at his juice, his eyes roaming around the room at all the unfamiliar faces.

“How does that taste, Max?”

He nodded and then gave you a little thumbs up. You reached out and brushed some hair back from his face, even though he tried to avoid your hand. When he saw the frustrated look on your face, he began to giggle.

“You’re just like your dad, did you know that?” you laughed, tickling his side. He giggled and swatted at your hand.

“What’s going on over here?”

“Dadda!” Max cheered, his juice box instantly forgotten.

“Hey, buddy,” Carter smiled, picking up Max from his chair and then promptly sitting down in it. “How is he being?”

“He’s doing great. The only trouble we had was earlier when he kept trying to get Tyler to chase him during dinner, but other than that he’s being an angel.”

“Good.” Carter pressed a quick kiss to the top of Max’s head. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“How are you doing? Is everything going ok?”

“Actually, yeah. This is much less stressful than I thought it would be.”

“I’m glad, you deserve to have fun today.”

“Thanks, Y/N.”

There was a pause in your conversation as Tyler arrived back with drinks: the vanilla Coke you had requested and another beer for himself. He wasn’t typically one for drinking, but if he kept up the pattern he had right now, he would be a little more than tipsy by the end of the night. Not that you minded, it had been a hard month for Tyler; letting loose for a night might not be such a bad idea for him.

“Hey, Joseph, how’s it going?”

“Pretty good. Congrats on the marriage, dude.”

“Thanks,” Carter said. His face had once again been overtaken by his dorky grin.

“Marenna is finally a Y/L/N now, officially,” you smiled.

“Yeah, and you won’t be one much longer,” he said, elbowing you.

You rolled your eyes. Carter had started pestering you and Tyler about getting married over the last few months, despite the fact that you had told him numerous times that you were in no rush. With Tyler’s busy schedule, finding time to even _think_ about planning a wedding was a struggle.

Even if deep down you knew it was something you wanted.

“Anyway,” Carter said, noticing the awkward silence he had created. “I just wanted to check in with you two and this little dude.” He ruffled Max’s hair. “Marenna and I are going to talk to some more people and then we can take care of him for the rest of the night so you two can relax, sound good?”

“Perfect,” you smiled.

Carter set Max down in his seat and then stood up to hug both you and Tyler. Max started to get upset once he realized his dad was leaving, but Tyler was quick to swoop in and distract him. You couldn’t help the smile on your face as you watched him spin Max around in his arms and toss him into the air, all the while Max giggled happily.

“More, unkie!”

Tyler turned to you, obviously tired after throwing him around so much.

“Come on, Ty!” you smiled. “You’re a performer, I know you can do this!”

“Yeah, but I’m not used to carrying around weight like this,” he laughed.

“It’s good practice! He’s only going to get bigger.”

Tyler scooped Max back up and started to swing him around again, nearly taking out one of your aunts in the process. Thankfully, Max’s cute smile was enough to appease her and keep her from chewing out Tyler too much, though he did still get a stern warning. He turned to you with a nervous expression, but you simply waved it off. That aunt had always been a bit harsh, anyway.

Max eventually got tired of playing and walked over to sit in your lap, making himself comfortable on your shoulder. Tyler, still panting, sat down across from you and grabbed his beer, taking a long drink.

“I still can’t believe how big he’s gotten,” he said. “I know I was only gone for a month, but I feel like he doubled in height.”

“I know. It’s like you blink and a year has passed.”

Tyler quietly took a sip of his beer. You leaned back further in your chair, shifting Max so you could sit a little more comfortably. The rhythmic tapping of his hand on your stomach indicated that he was still awake, but you could tell by his steady breathing that he was getting close to falling asleep. It had been a big day for him.

“Tell me if you need a break from holding him, ok?” Tyler said. “I don’t mind.”

“I will. I’m just looking forward to when Carter and Marenna come to get him so we can finally dance.”

Tyler smiled, “Me too.”

* * *

Your opportunity finally came an hour or so later. After a brief conversation with Carter and Marenna, they finally took a sleeping Max off your hands so that you and Tyler had an opportunity to have some fun for a little while. Tyler was also a little tipsier than he had been earlier in the night, meaning that his confidence was double its normal levels.

Your hand was held tightly in Tyler’s as he led you towards the dance floor where most of your family members were currently dancing. They hardly paid any attention to you as you made your way into the crowd and found some space for yourself. Tyler wasted no time in beginning to dance, swinging his hips wildly and flailing his arms about the place.

“Come on, why aren’t you dancing?” he smiled.

You started to swing your hips a little, but Tyler obviously wasn’t pleased with this level of movement. He reached forward and laced his fingers with yours so that he could move your arms for you. It was impossible not to giggle as Tyler moved your arms all over the place, despite the fact that your hips were still barely moving.

“I’ve seen you dance before, Y/N, you’re not fooling me.”

“Yeah, at home where nobody else is watching.”

“Nobody is watching right now! Look around.”

As much as you hated to admit it, Tyler was right. Everyone was too wrapped up in dancing with their own friends to pay attention to you. Even Carter, who usually liked to poke fun at you, was too busy dancing with Max and Marenna to pay attention.

“Fine, fine, I’ll dance a little more.”

Tyler began to smile widely as soon as you started to move your hips, quickly forgetting about all the people around you and focusing only on him. You kept your fingers interlaced as you moved around together, both of you giggling and smiling like idiots.

The music eventually slowed down and people who didn’t have dance partners began to filter themselves off the floor. Tyler brought your dancing to a stop and put on the most serious expression that he could muster.

“Y/N,” he started. “Love of my life.”

“Yes, Tyler?”

“Will you dance with me?”

“Of course.”

Tyler pulled you closer to him and found a comfortable place on your hip for him to rest his hand. Once your hand was on his shoulder and your fingers were interlaced, Tyler began to sway the two of you slowly. His focus was on you, and you only, as he stared deeply into your eyes.

“What are you doing?” you smiled, already feeling your cheeks get hot.

“Just admiring my beautiful girlfriend.”

“Oh? Where is she?” you asked, dramatically looking around the room.

Tyler reached up and caught your chin with his hand, gently tilting it up towards him.

“Right here.” He pressed a kiss to your lips, but didn’t linger for long. You were still surrounded by your family members, after all.

“Smooth,” you giggled.

He leaned forward so that he could whisper in your ear, “The alcohol helps a lot.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Tyler smiled and pressed another kiss to your cheek. “You know, I’ve had a lot of fun today with you. It was much needed.”

“I had fun too. Thank you for coming along as my date.”

“I’ll never turn down an opportunity to spend time with you.”

You smiled at Tyler, taking this opportunity to admire all the little things you loved about him. It was hard to believe that you had been lucky enough to have him next to you for ten years, even if your relationship had been rocky from time to time. He was everything you could have asked for in a life partner, and then some.

“Now who’s staring?” Tyler grinned.

“If you get to stare, then I do too.”

“Ok, ok, point taken.”

“I love you, Tyler.”

“Oh, I get the full name today?”

You shook your head, “Just say it back, doofus.”

“I love you too.”

Yep, this was the guy you were head over heels in love with.


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Alcohol-induced shenanigans
> 
> Word Count: 1944
> 
> Author’s Note: I think this might be one of my favorite chapters. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :)

“She’s the tear in my heart, I’m alive! She’s the tear in my heart, I’m on fire! She’s the te-”

“Ty, love, can you please stop yelling?” Y/N asked. “I’m trying to drive and that’s very distracting.”

I sighed and dramatically leaned further back into my seat. Thanks to a couple more drinks before we left the wedding, I was feeling the drunkest that I had in quite some time. This, of course, also meant that Y/N was having to put up with all of my antics.

“I just wanted to serenade you,” I mumbled. “Do you not like it?”

“I do like it.” Y/N reached over and grabbed one of my hands. “It’s just a little loud.”

“She’s the tear in my heart, take me higher than I’ve ever been,” I finished, quieter than before.

“Thank you.”

Y/N slowly pulled into the driveway of our house, making my body bounce around as she drove over the pavement. As soon as she came to a stop, I practically fell out of the car, barely landing on my feet.

“Ty? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just a little wiggly.”

“Ok,” she laughed.

With some help from Y/N, I finally managed to get myself upstairs and into our bedroom. I immediately collapsed down in the middle of the bed, spreading my arms out as far as they would go. Y/N laughed as she took off her bracelet.

“Hey, hey,” I said, waving one of my arms in her direction.

“Yes, love?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Really?”

Y/N turned and looked at me over her shoulder, “Yes, really.”

“You love me?”

“Yes, Ty, I love you.”

“Wow. That’s awesome.”

“Yes, it is,” she laughed quietly.

I watched as Y/N set her jewelry down on the dresser and then crossed the room to the bathroom.

“Where are you going?” I frowned.

“I have to get ready for bed.”

“But I want you to come cuddle with me.”

“I can come cuddle once I’m in pajamas.”

“No,” I whined. “I want to cuddle with you _now_.”

Y/N crossed her arms as she leaned against the doorframe, watching me carefully. I hardly even noticed, I was too busy admiring how beautiful she looked.

“Wow, look at you,” I said, propping myself up on my elbows so that I could get a better look at her. “Are you sure that you’re my girlfriend and not a celebrity? There’s no way that I could score someone as stunning as you.”

Her stern expression softened into a smile, making me smile right back at her.

“Ty, you _are_ a celebrity.”

“Oh right.”

“I’m going to go get ready for bed now. I suggest you do the same.”

With that, Y/N shut the bathroom door. I sighed and laid back onto the bed again, deciding I might as well start to get undressed. After taking off my tie and tossing it aside, I slowly started to undo the buttons of my shirt. The sides slowly started to fall open until I undid the last button, revealing the entirety of my chest. That seemed like enough progress for now.

“Y/N!” I called. “Are you almost done?”

“Why?”

“I miss you.”

“I just have to brush my teeth and then I’m done. Are you undressed yet?”

I looked down at my bare chest, “Yeah!”

“Ok, I can bring you some pajamas. Do you want sweatpants?”

“Yes, please.”

“And a shirt?”

“No shirt. It’s too hot.”

“Ok.”

I quietly sang Screen to myself while I waited for Y/N to come back with my pajamas. The effects of the alcohol were slowly starting to wear off, but I was definitely still more than a little tipsy.

The bathroom door swung open, revealing Y/N wearing an oversized t-shirt and holding a pair of my sweatpants. Disappointment crossed her face when she realized that I hadn’t exactly told the truth about being undressed.

“Ty, unbuttoning your shirt doesn’t count as getting undressed.”

“Sure it does. Look, you can see my skin!”

“Doesn’t count,” she said.

“Does.”

“Doesn’t.”

“Does.”

“Tyler.”

“Y/N.”

“Can you finish getting undressed?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Not until you kiss me,” I grinned.

Y/N sighed deeply, considering my offer. After a few seconds, she walked over to me and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. I, not wanting to let her go just yet, took this opportunity to wrap my arms around her waist and pull her down onto the bed with me. She squealed at first, but quickly began to laugh once she realized what had happened.

“That’s not fair,” she said. Her nose was a few inches away from mine.

“Yes it is.”

She didn’t seem convinced, but she also didn’t press the subject any further. That was probably for the best, because I had already become distracted by admiring her again.

“Did you know that you have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen?” I asked, noticing how nicely they were shining in the moonlight. “I’ve never seen anyone with eyes that are quite the color of yours.”

“Stop,” she smiled.

“No,” I returned her smile, bringing my face even closer to hers. “You’re too amazing for me to ever stop complimenting you. Like your laugh, it’s the best thing I’ve ever heard. And your smile makes me smile every time. It’s infectious. I really do love every last thing about you, Y/N.”

“You’re just trying to distract me from getting undressed,” she said.

I shook my head, “I just wanted to tell you.”

“I love you too, Ty.”

She leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips.

“You taste like toothpaste,” I laughed.

“And _you_ taste like alcohol.”

I wrinkled my nose, “Gross.”

“Now will you please get undressed? I want to cuddle with you, but I can’t do that when you’re still in a suit.”

“Sure you can.”

I shifted forward so that I was laying on top of Y/N with my arms wound around her. She started to poke and prod at my sides.

“Ty!” she laughed. “Get off!”

“No, we’re cuddling.”

“Ty- _ler_!”

“Ok, ok, I’m getting up.”

I finally sat up so that I would be able to pull off the sleeves of my shirt, which took some help from Y/N to get the buttons around my wrists undone. Thankfully, I was able to manage getting my pants on and off by myself. She was also nice enough to sit on the bathroom counter while I went through my nightly routine, since I refused to be more than five feet away from her at any given moment.

“Did you know that I’m the luckiest guy in the world?” I asked once I was finally crawling under the covers.

“Are you?”

“Yes. I have the most perfect girlfriend in the world, I’m in a band with my best friend, and I get to travel the world with both of them. What more could a guy ask for?”

“You’ve got it all, Ty.”

“Hey, Y/N?”

“Hm?”

I turned to look at Y/N. She was still sitting up, having just been looking at her phone a few minutes before. There was a hint of a smile on her face as she turned to look at me.

“You still love me, right?”

She reached out and ran a hand through my hair, “Of course I do, more than anything.”

A smile quickly overtook my face. “Good, because I love you too.”

“I know, you’ve made that very clear tonight.”

“Have I?”

“Mhmm.”

“You deserve to hear it.”

Y/N turned off her bedside lamp before getting comfortable laying down. I watched her as she did so, unable to pull my eyes away. Even when doing the simplest things, she was the most beautiful person in the world.

“You should try to drink more water before you go to bed, Ty.”

“Is that bottle still on my bedside table?” I asked, rolling over to check. “Yes it is.”

“Just be careful not to spill.”

“I won’t spill.”

I carefully unscrewed the cap of the water bottle and lined it up with my mouth so that it wouldn’t get all over the bed. Unfortunately, my calculations weren’t as good as they seemed and water ended up spilling all over the comforter and sheets.

“Tyler,” Y/N frowned.

“I thought it would work!”

“When has it ever worked?”

“A couple times.”

“I’ll go grab a towel.”

“No, look, it’s fine.”

Y/N stopped moving and turned to look at me. I used the comforter to dab off the water that had spilled all over my chest, which only seemed to frustrate her more.

“All you’re doing is making the comforter more wet.”

“Yes, but now my chest is _less_ wet.”

“It doesn’t really work like that,” she giggled.

“Yes it does. Feel.”

“Ty…”

“Come on, Y/N! Feel my chest.”

She sighed and then reached out to lightly touch my chest where there had previously been water all over it.

“See? It’s dry now.”

“Yes, now feel the comforter.”

I grabbed the edge of the comforter where it was completely dry and held it up for Y/N to see.

“Dry,” I smiled.

“I’m just going to go grab a towel,” she smiled.

“But you’re supposed to cuddle with me.”

“You should have thought about that before you spilled water everywhere,” she said as she stepped into the bathroom.

She came back a moment later with a clean towel. I got up and grabbed my phone so that we could use the flashlight to find the really wet spots and dry them up, which seemed to make Y/N happy. In a matter of minutes, we managed to get things dried up so that we could lay back down.

“Sorry I made a mess,” I said when Y/N finally crawled into bed again. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I know you didn’t,” she said, scooting closer to me.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I held my arms out so that she could get comfortable against my chest. Although I didn’t feel particularly tired, I was never one to give up an opportunity to cuddle with her. Being close to her was my favorite thing in the world.

“Are you tired?” I asked.

Y/N paused for a moment. “You know, now that I think about it, not really.”

“Me neither,” I laughed. “Do you want to watch a movie?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

Y/N started to reach for the remote, but I stopped her. She turned to look at me with furrowed eyebrows.

“What?”

“I just wanted to take one more opportunity to tell you how much you mean to me,” I smiled. “I’m sorry that I’m busy all the time, but I really hope that days like today help make it up to you a little bit. I would give anything in the world just to have a whole week with you. No meetings, no phone calls, just you and me.”

“It’s ok, Ty. I know your job keeps you busy. The most important thing to me is that at the end of the day, you still come home to me.”

“I’ll always come home to you.”

I kissed her again. It was slower and more deliberate this time, less like the kisses I had given her earlier just to annoy her. One of her hands went up to my hair and I was sure that I was going to melt straight into her hand.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you too.”

“Now, what movie should we watch?”


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Word Count: 1878
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one! :)

“What else do we need?” Tyler asked, leaning over your shoulder to look at the grocery list that was in your hands.

“Chips, salad, and you specifically requested that we get cookies. After that, we should have everything on this list.”

Although today was supposed to be your lazy day, you and Tyler had decided to go out and run some errands. It was something that the two of you enjoyed doing together, even if it wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world.

“Where should we start?”

“The chips and cookies are right down here, so let’s get those out of the way.”

Tyler turned your cart down the aisle and headed towards the chips. You had barely gotten a few steps into the aisle when two teenage girls turned in your direction, their eyes going wide.

“Oh my god, it’s Tyler Joseph,” one of them said quickly before throwing a hand over her mouth.

The two girls exchanged a look before walking towards you. Tyler was already running a hand through his hair, trying to make it look less like he had spent the night before heavily drinking and just rolled out of bed to run errands, even though that was exactly what he had done.

“Can we get a picture?” one of them asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Tyler smiled.

You held out your hand for the girl’s phone, already knowing where this scenario was going; it was one that you had been in countless times before. Tyler wrapped his arms around each of the girls and smiled in your direction which, even if it wasn’t necessarily directed at you, made you smile a little. After taking a couple good pictures, you passed the phone back to its owner.

“Thank you so much,” she smiled at you. “You’re so pretty, by the way.”

Your eyebrows raised, having not expected that compliment. “Thank you, you are too.”

The girl’s smile grew even more as she turned to her friend. They quickly walked off, already whispering excitedly to one another. Tyler once again leaned on the cart, slowly beginning to push it forward once again.

“Who’s the celebrity now?” he smiled, giving your arm a nudge.

“The only reason I have even an ounce of fame is because I’m dating you,” you said.

“Fame is still fame, no matter how you get it.”

“Whatever. Just pick out your cookies, Joseph.”

You went a little further down the aisle to grab some chips while Tyler looked over his cookie options. It usually took him a little while to decide, so you took your time picking out some chips to keep around the house as well.

“I’ve got it!” Tyler announced triumphantly, holding up his selected cookies. He was loud enough that you were sure people a couple aisles over would hear him too. “I want these ones.”

You shook your head; sometimes you were amazed by how little some of Tyler’s mannerisms had changed since high school.

“Ok, put them in the cart.”

Tyler gently put the cookies into the cart among the rest of your groceries and then pushed the cart down towards you, lightly bumping you with it. You turned to him with a smile.

“What do you think? Tortilla chips?” you asked.

Tyler walked around the cart so that he was standing next to you, wrapping one arm around your waist. You couldn’t resist turning to look at him while he considered chip options. There was something about his thinking face that you found, well, adorable.

“I think tortilla chips are good,” he nodded, turning to you. “Oh, hi, I didn’t realize your face was that close.”

“Sorry, just admiring you again,” you smiled before grabbing the chips and adding them to the cart with the rest.

“Dork,” Tyler laughed. “Alright, what’s next?”

* * *

When the groceries were finally put away, you and Tyler got comfortable on the couch to watch some TV for awhile. You were quick to rest your head in Tyler’s lap and start scrolling through Netflix to find something to watch. Tyler, however, was paying close attention to something on his phone.

“What do you want to watch?” you asked, looking up at him.

No answer. You waited a few more seconds to see if he would say anything before you went back to scrolling. He was probably just distracted. After another ten seconds of silence, you gave up on asking for his opinion.

When you finally found a show that looked good, you turned to Tyler again. His eyes were moving quickly across his phone screen, one hand pinching his bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger. You waited a little longer to see if he would come to a stop, but he didn’t.

“Hey, Ty?”

“Hm?”

“What do you think of this show?”

Tyler’s eyes barely flicked up to the TV for a second before they were back on his phone. “Yeah, looks good.”

You weren’t entirely convinced by his approval of the show, but decided not to push the matter. Whatever he was reading was obviously important, and you didn’t want to start an argument over a Netflix show. Instead, you hit play and made yourself comfortable on his legs again.

“I’m going to need you to move.”

You were only a few minutes into the TV show when Tyler said it. Confused, you turned to look at him. He had finally stopped reading for the first time since he had picked his phone up, but it was still in his hand. His comment took you back a little bit, Tyler rarely asked you to _stop_ cuddling with him.

“Um, ok,” you said, pushing yourself up to a sitting position and scooting away from him.

“I’m sorry. The label sent a really long email about stuff coming up this week but they got it wrong, so now I’m going to have to get this all sorted out.”

“Oh.” You tried to ignore the sinking feeling in your stomach. It seemed the lazy day you had planned to spend with Tyler was quickly being flipped on its head. “That’s ok.”

“I’ll still sit and watch TV with you, I’ll just have to be on my computer while we do it.”

“Ok.”

Tyler leaned over and kissed you before getting up to grab his laptop from the office. You forced a smile and decided to make yourself comfortable on the opposite end of the couch since cuddling wouldn’t really be an option if Tyler was having to send emails. At least he would still be at home and close to you.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

* * *

You had been watching TV for a couple hours and Tyler was still working away at his laptop, sending out emails and coordinating with various companies to figure out what was wrong. The TV show you picked had ended up being super interesting, although you weren’t even sure that Tyler knew the plot at this point. You had barely seen him look up from his computer once this entire time.

“Are you getting close to finishing, Ty?” you asked.

“I have no idea,” he said, his tone harsher than you had been expecting. “I’m trying to get this done as quickly as I can, but new emails are coming in faster than I can keep up.”

“Ok, sorry I asked.”

You tried to focus your attention back on the TV show, but you couldn’t quite get yourself to pay attention. Your mind kept replaying Tyler’s reaction to your question. You hadn’t meant to upset him with it, yet he had snapped at you for wanting to know when you would actually get to spend some quality time with him. That had been the original plan, after all.

The more you thought about your exchange with Tyler, the more frustrated you started to become. Eventually it was too much for you to keep inside, so you paused the show and practically stormed upstairs so that you could get some of your restless energy out without bothering Tyler. You hated getting into arguments with him and the longer you stayed downstairs and let your frustration grow, the more likely it was that you would end up snapping at him. Up here, you could let yourself calm down and think through the situation.

You couldn’t have been pacing your bedroom for more than a few minutes before Tyler joined you upstairs. He practically burst through the door of the bedroom, his shoulders relaxing as soon as he laid eyes on you.

“I couldn’t find you anywhere downstairs… thought you might have left without me noticing,” he said.

You held back a sigh. Him not noticing what you were up to was half of the problem, wasn’t it?

“I was just up here.”

“Are you ok?”

You began to chew on your lower lip, debating if you should even tell him why you were upset. He was already stressed enough as it was and you didn’t want to add to that, but you knew he would also want to know if he had done something wrong.

“Not really.”

He came closer to you now, only leaving a foot or two of space between you until he had an ok to get closer.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m just… I don’t know, I’m frustrated, I guess.”

“About what?”

“We were just supposed to have this nice lazy day today,” you sighed, crossing your arms, “and then of course the label had to email you and you had to work anyway. And I don’t want to be mad because I know it’s important, but it stings a little bit when our plans get ruined like this.”

Tyler reached up and ran a hand through his hair, twirling it around his fingers at the end.

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“What if I make you a deal?” he asked. “I’ll work for another hour or so and then once it’s time to make dinner, I’ll stop. Even if there’s more to be done, I’ll save it for tomorrow and we can just spend the entire night together. How does that sound?”

You nodded, “I like that idea.”

He reached out and put his hands on your arms, “I promise that I want to make it up to you however I can. I know work takes up a lot of my time, but you’re still my first priority at the end of the day.”

Tyler stepped closer so that he could press a soft kiss to your forehead. The small gesture made you smile and, before you knew it, you had your arms wrapped around him. He hugged you tightly, making all of your frustration melt away in an instant.

“I’m sorry for not being more patient,” you mumbled into his chest.

“You don’t need to apologize,” he said. “We got it worked out.”

“Ok. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

After hugging him a little while longer, you followed him back downstairs and got comfy on the couch again, this time a little closer to him. Although you didn’t like that he had to do more work, you were reassured by the fact that you would have the rest of the night to spend with him.

And that was enough for you.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Word Count: 1890
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one! :)

“Not fair!” Y/N groaned. “Why is your aim so good?”

“I’ve been playing this game for years, it just takes practice.”

“I’ve been playing just as long as you have!”

“Well, not everyone can be good at Mario Kart.”

Y/N shook her head and used her elbow to knock my arm to the side. It threw me off for a moment, but I was able to quickly get back on track and maintain my lead, much to her dismay.

“Excuse me, but that’s a violation of rule number five: no using physical contact to distract or throw off other players. I’m going to need you to use a forfeit during the next round.”

“That’s a violation of rule number five,” Y/N mocked me, suddenly leaning to the left as her character rounded a tight corner.

“Hey, watch it,” I laughed, shifting my own body so that I was still able to see the screen. As much as I liked having Y/N leaned against my chest while we played video games, there were definitely a certain number of disadvantages that came along with it. One of those was how into the game she could get, resulting in her moving all over the place.

“Sorry, thought I was going to fall off the edge.”

“You know moving your body doesn’t actually affect the character, right?”

“Shh, it makes me feel better.”

I went quiet as we neared the end of the race, holding out hope that Y/N wouldn’t come up with some last-minute sabotage to take the win from me. She was only a couple points behind me overall, so I needed as many wins as I could get.

It was hard to contain my excitement when I finally did cross the finish line in first place. Since Y/N was still trying to secure her place in second, I gently wrapped my arms all the way around her and pressed a kiss - or maybe two - to her cheek.

“Ty- _ler_!” she groaned, still keeping her eyes on the screen. “That’s a rule violation!”

“That’s a rule violation,” I repeated, using the same mocking tone she had earlier.

“Hey!”

“Oh, so are rule violations only important when they apply to you?”

Y/N crossed the finish line - taking second place - and then turned to me. “Yes, exactly.”

“How is that fair?”

“Because then I get to win,” she grinned.

“That plan doesn’t seem to be working out, now does it?”

“Hey!” Y/N set her Wii remote down and crossed her arms across her chest. “You’re so rude.”

“But you love me,” I said, giving her my sweetest smile.

Her expression immediately faltered and she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around me. I laughed as I did the same to her, holding her close to my chest.

“I do love you,” she mumbled into my shoulder.

“I love you too.” I pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. “Now what do you say we take a break and have some ice cream?”

“I like that idea,” she said, then leaned back so that she could look at me properly. “And then can we go on a drive? We haven’t gone driving just for fun since before you left.”

“Of course.”

Y/N and I grabbed our respective pints of ice cream from the fridge and then sat down on the couch. She was quick to tangle her legs up with mine, just to make sure we were still cuddling in some form even when we were sitting a couple feet apart.

“Hey, can I talk to you about something?”

A chill ran down my spine, but I brushed it off and met Y/N’s eyes. “Sure, what’s up?”

“So,” she was idly dragging her spoon through her ice cream, “I was folding your tour laundry the other day, and when I was doing your shirts I might have found something.”

Hundreds of possibilities began to run through my head, each worse than the last. What did I keep hidden in my t-shirt drawer?

“What did you find?” I asked, somehow managing to keep my voice steady.

“Do you, um, remember writing me a note on the back of an Ohio postcard?”

My eyes went wide as I remembered that morning, hunched over in the back of a tour van scribbling out my love confession on a cheap gas station postcard. I had chickened out about giving it to her then, but it seemed that it had still found its way to her.

“That was still in my t-shirt drawer?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was wrapped up in one of your old shirts that hasn’t been touched since 2011 and somehow survived multiple moves.”

“That card waited almost as long as I did to tell you how it felt.”

“Were you really going to give that to me when you came back?”

“I wanted to. I only took it out the night before I gave you the rest of the postcards because I decided it was too soon and you might not feel the same. Anyway, yeah, you know the rest of the story,” I said, smiling down at my ice cream.

“I swear that I learn about a new time that you almost confessed at least once a week,” she laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” I joined her laughter. “It was scary, alright?”

“I know! I know. But you did it.”

“I did.”

“Hey, Ty?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for spending time with me tonight. I know work is keeping you busy, but I really enjoy this time with you. It means a lot to me.”

“No, thank _you_ for being patient while I worked and waiting while I finished some things up. I know it isn’t easy, but I appreciate it.”

“Your welcome. I really hope things get worked out soon.”

I held back a sigh. “Me too.”

* * *

The night air was surprisingly warm as we drove down the back roads of Columbus, listening to music and talking about whatever came to mind. Y/N had her feet kicked up on the dash, as she always did. One of her hands was loosely holding mine, the other was twirling the strings of her sweatshirt around her forefinger.

“Hey, isn’t that the road that goes down to the lake?” Y/N asked, pointing down a little side road.

“I think so. Why, do you want to go for a swim?”

“Not in this weather,” she laughed. “I just didn’t realize we were so far outside the city.”

“We’re not that far. Maybe thirty minutes at most.”

“Still, I didn’t think we had been driving that long.”

“Time flies when you’re having fun.”

“I am having fun,” she smiled. “Wait, do you remember when we went out to the lake before you left?”

“Of course I do.”

“And you tackled me into the water _after_ telling me that it was warm?”

“Ok, ok, I know I’m terrible at flirting, you don’t have to remind me,” I laughed, remembering the day. It was a good memory, but it was still tinged with the sadness of leaving for our first tour. I hadn’t been lucky enough to be able to bring Y/N along with me then.

“You got better!”

“No, you just learned to accept my dorkish charm.”

“I love your dorkish charm.”

“I’m glad somebody does.”

I pulled Y/N’s hand closer to me and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, since it was just about the most that I could do while driving. She squeezed my hand in return and then went back to looking out the window. We were quiet for a little while, letting the quiet music fill the air between us as we enjoyed one another’s company.

“I’m going to miss it here when we leave again,” she said. “Of all the places we’ve been, nowhere has made me feel quite like Columbus does.”

“Because it’s home,” I said, glancing over at her. “Think of all the memories that we have here.”

“Too many to count, but I’m looking forward to making new memories on tour with you.”

Y/N lightly squeezed my hand. My mouth partially curled into a smile, but it quickly faded again. I had still yet to tell her about the additional meetings that had been scheduled for this week. As much as I hated to ruin the peaceful night we were having, I knew that it would be better to tell her sooner rather than later.

“Um, speaking of tour,” I started. If you listened close enough, you could hear the way that my voice was shaking.

“Yeah?”

“Do you remember how I told you that we didn’t get everything done that we needed to last week?”

Y/N went quiet for a little while. I started to tap my thumb nervously against the steering wheel.

“Was I half asleep when you told me?”

“I think so.”

“Ok, because that sounds vaguely familiar but I can’t really pinpoint it. Anyway, you didn’t get everything done that you needed to?”

“Right,” I nodded. “So in order to make up for that, they scheduled two additional meetings this week on Tuesday and Thursday.”

“Oh.”

Explanations were pouring out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop them. “They shouldn’t be as long as the meeting last week because we split up the time better, but I know you were really looking forward to spending time together. I’m going to try and not work at home as much to make up for it, but I really don’t know how much I can get out of it. It just seems like all the original plans are falling apart and thankfully Josh is coming, but I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to do all the things that we wanted to and-”

“Ty, hey,” Y/N reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Deep breaths. It’s all going to be ok. Like you said, Josh is flying in and I know that together you two have enough sway to get what you want. Tour is still a couple weeks away, there’s time to iron the details out.”

“I guess.”

“I’m right here, love.”

I took a couple deep breaths as we pulled up to a stop sign. Y/N kept her hand on my shoulder, rubbing rhythmic circles into it. Once we were stopped, I turned to look at her.

“I’m really sorry about this.”

“It’s ok. This is your job and what you love, it should always come first.”

She smiled, but I knew her well enough to tell that it wasn’t genuine. Her eyes weren’t shining the way that they usually did.

“ _You_ should always come first.”

“But that’s not always an option.”

After pressing a gentle kiss to my cheek, Y/N sat back and took hold of my hand again. I pressed my lips together, holding in my thoughts, and pulled out onto the next road. She was right, even if I didn’t want to admit it. At the end of the day, the band was still my job, I couldn’t just push it aside because I wanted to stay at home and spend time with Y/N instead. Right now, it had to come first.

No matter how guilty it made me feel.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst, profanity
> 
> Word Count: 2118
> 
> Author’s Note: I’m back from my little break! Thank you for letting me take a weekend off from posting, I’ll make sure to make this weekend’s posts extra good! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

The sun was shining as you pulled up along the curb outside Carter and Marenna’s house. Since Tyler was out at meetings and the two of them had somehow managed to get a coinciding day off, you had decided to spend the afternoon with them and your nephew. It was something that you were looking forward to, especially since your busy schedules didn’t often allow for days like today.

Carter was already at the door as you walked up the front steps, leaning against the doorframe. He straightened up as you got closer.

“Y/N,” he smiled. “I’m glad you were able to make it over today.”

“Me too,” you said, returning his smile. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to come visit.”

The sound of tiny footsteps running along wood floors became audible the moment that you stepped in the door. A moment later, a tiny figure wearing a brightly colored dinosaur shirt and jeans came around the corner, making a beeline straight for you.

“Auntie!”

Your legs were attacked by a small pair of arms the moment that he was close enough to do so, making you wobble a little bit. Once you were steady, you bent over and scooped Max up, ruffling his hair once he was comfortably in your arms.

“Somebody is happy to see you,” Carter smiled as he closed the front door.

“I’m happy to see him too.”

After giving Max a proper hug, you set him back down onto the floor. As soon as his legs were on the ground, he took off at a run towards the living room.

“How are you doing?” you asked, now pulling Carter into a hug.

“I’m doing alright. Work has been kicking my ass lately, but I’m getting through it.”

“I’m proud of you, bud.”

“Thanks.”

Carter gave you a pat on the back as you pulled away from the hug. You quickly set your things by the door and followed him into the living room. Marenna was already in there, sitting on the couch and playing with a very giggly Max. She looked up when you entered the room.

“Y/N!” she smiled. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“You too!”

You walked around the couch so that you could give Marenna some form of half-hug, which was quickly interrupted by Max wiggling in between you two and demanding that he should get a hug too. Marenna gave him a quick talking to while you got comfortable on a different part of the couch.

“Do you need anything to drink?” Carter asked.

“Could I have a root beer, please?” you said.

“Not a vanilla Coke?”

“Do you actually have some?”

“Yes, because _somebody_ demanded that we keep a box here,” he laughed.

“Right,” you laughed along with him. “Then one of those, please.”

“Ren? Do you want anything?”

“I’m ok, but can you grab some juice for Max?”

“Juice!”

“Coming right up.”

Max started to get off the couch so that he could run after his dad, but Marenna quickly caught him and pulled him back into her lap. He fought for a moment before dramatically flopping into her arms, finally realizing that it was a losing battle.

“How was your weekend, Y/N?”

“It was really nice! Obviously I had a lot of fun at the wedding, and then Tyler and I did some errands and had a relaxed night last night after he finished some work. How were things here?”

“Oh my gosh, I cannot even begin to tell you how relieved I was when we got home Saturday night. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that we had the wedding that we did, but I never want to be involved in planning another one in my life.”

“What is all this talk about weddings? Is Y/N finally getting married?”

“Shut it, Car,” you laughed as he passed you your drink. “We’ve talked about this.”

“Yeah, yeah, Joseph is busy, no time for planning, I’ve heard it all.”

Carter took a seat next to Marenna and started to open Max’s juicebox. Max, upon noticing this, climbed over Marenna’s arms and quickly made himself comfortable in Carter’s arms. He had a huge smile on his face as he was finally presented with his juice.

You were distracted from the conversation by something rubbing up against your legs. There was barely enough time for you to register it before Georgie was in your lap, stretching out and making himself comfortable.

“Hi, Georgie-bean,” you cooed, scratching at his ears. “I’ve missed you.”

He acknowledged you with a little headbutt to your palm before returning to finding a comfortable position on your lap. You never quite realized how much you missed having Georgie around until you were in his presence again.

“Speaking of Joseph, where is he?”

You pressed your lips together for a moment before speaking. “He’s out at a meeting for their tour. I guess everything is going wrong so there’s a ton of last minute things they have to do and it’s all on the brink of falling apart. He’s been super stressed about it, and this is only the first of three meetings this week, and that’s only as of right now. Who knows if they’ll decide to schedule more or not.”

“Oh no,” Marenna frowned. “That sounds awful.”

“It is. I, um,” you idly played with the tab of your soda can. “Yeah.”

You met Carter’s eyes, only to see that his eyebrows were furrowed. He was always able to tell when you were upset, no matter how hard you tried to hide it.

“Something more is going on here,” he said, shifting Max in his lap.

“It’s nothing.”

“Y/N,” Marenna chimed in. “This is a safe place, you can talk about things that are bothering you.”

“I guess it’s just… this was supposed to be our break, you know? And of course I knew there would be meetings, that’s a given before any tour, but I didn’t know it was going to be quite like this. I mean, he was gone for an entire month and it still feels like he’s on tour sometimes, or when he is home he’s just on his computer doing even more catch up for the next meeting. I know he can’t control the fact that everything is going wrong, but it hurts to still be spending so much time alone.”

“Have you tried talking to him about all this?” Carter asked.

“A little. We talked about it briefly yesterday, but I really don’t want to become another source of stress for him. I know this will all pass eventually. I guess, I know this is stupid, but I just miss when we were kids and the band wasn’t some huge thing that took over our lives, you know? Now it’s like everything has to be planned around his schedule. I miss when we could make last minute plans to go to the beach and not have to worry about everything else.”

“That’s not stupid,” Marenna answered this time. “I think that’s a reasonable concern to have.”

“I agree, but at the same time, that’s just how life goes. Relationship dynamics change and you have to change with them if you really want the relationship to work. You and Tyler care a lot about one another, so I’m sure you can figure out a solution if you just sit down and talk it through. There are still ways for you to have fun days and last minute plans, it just takes a little bit more work than it did before.”

You began to chew on your bottom lip. “I guess.”

“And you don’t need to sacrifice your happiness for him, either,” Marenna said. “I know the band is a big thing in his life right now, but you are too. He can find ways to balance those.”

“I know, he said that last night.”

“See, he’s got a good head on his shoulders,” Carter smiled.

“He does. And you’re right, I just need to talk to him about all of this. I just don’t want to upset him and make him feel like he has to make a choice, because he doesn’t.”

“You’re smart, Y/N, you’ll find a way to express that to him.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Marenna laughed.

“Thanks, guys,” you said. “I’ve been holding that in for awhile, so it was nice to get off my chest.”

“We’re always going to be here for you.”

“Auntie!” Max suddenly yelled.

He started wiggling in Carter’s arms, eager to be free of them. Carter gently set him on the ground and Max was off, making his way around the coffee table to you. The sound of his little feet on the carpet was enough to wake Georgie, allowing him enough time to escape before Max was climbing in your lap and taking the spot where Georgie had previously been.

“Hi, little dude. What brings you over here?”

Max held out his arms, making little grabbing motions with his hands. You got the message and held him close, gently wrapping your own arms around him. He held onto you for so long that you thought he might have fallen asleep, but then he leaned back and sank a bit further into your lap.

“He’s getting so big,” you said, running a hand along his hair. “I remember when he was just a little baby.”

“Tell me about it,” Carter scoffed. “I see him every day and it still feels like he grows an inch overnight. Before you know it, he’s going to be taller than me.”

“Shh, I don’t want to think about that,” Marenna said, putting a hand on Carter’s arm. “He’s still my baby boy.”

“He’ll always be your baby boy, no matter how big he gets,” Carter said.

“Are you guys going to have more kids, do you think?”

“Maybe in the future. I want to get a little more established at work before we start growing our family anymore, but it’s definitely something we want. Right, Ren?”

Marenna nodded, “Definitely. I think having a big family would be really nice.”

“Then I can bug you and all of your siblings,” you said, tickling Max’s side.

He giggled and tried to squirm away from you, but you caught him and pulled him close again. As retaliation, he reached over and started to “tickle” your side. You pretended to laugh and try to get away from him, making him laugh even harder.

“Hey, while we’re on the topic of Max,” Carter said. “Do you think I could ask a favor?”

“When do you need me to take care of him?”

“Wednesday afternoon. Marenna’s parents wanted to take us and her siblings out to dinner, but it’s a really nice restaurant and I don’t want Max to cause a problem. I think he would just have more fun if he was with you and maybe Tyler.”

“Unkie?” Max smiled.

“Yes, unkie will be there,” you said.

“So is that a yes?”

You held back a sigh. Wednesday was supposed to be one of the free days that you had with Tyler this week, but you also knew how much it would mean if you were able to watch Max for them to go out and have a nice dinner. Tyler did enjoy having Max around, though, so maybe it wouldn’t be a huge deal.

“Yeah, I think we can take him. I’ll make sure to double check with Tyler tonight, but I don’t think he’ll mind.”

“Thank you so much, Y/N,” Marenna smiled. “It means a lot.”

“Of course! I’m always happy to hang out with this little guy.”

Max barely noticed that you were talking about him, he was too busy watching Georgie sniff around by the window. Even if you missed him, you did enjoy knowing that Max had a little companion around the house.

“Kitty,” Max said, once again wiggling his way out of your arms.

He walked over to where Georgie was sitting in the window and started to reach for him.

“Gentle, Max,” Carter warned.

Max turned to look at Carter for a moment before turning to look at Georgie again. As gently as his little hands could muster, he began to lightly pet Georgie’s back.

“Good job, bud.”

The three of you watched Max and Georgie interact for awhile longer before Marenna suggested that you all make some lunch. You were tasked with keeping Max entertained while Carter and Marenna made up some sandwiches and fruit for everyone. Your worries about Tyler were quickly forgotten as you became wrapped up in spending time with your family.

It was exactly what you needed.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Word Count: 1977
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! Also there will be bandom bingo posts this weekend :)

“The whole thing is just so stupid,” I said as I pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant we had decided to go to for lunch. “We had the entire budget worked out, ticket prices included, months ago, but now that everything is falling apart, they want to raise ticket prices to cover costs! If they had just done things when we wanted them to, this wouldn’t have been an issue.”

“I think they finally got the message that we’re not swaying on ticket prices,” Josh answered. “Although that took a lot of convincing.”

I pulled into a parking spot just outside the doors and leaned back in my seat, rubbing my hands along my face.

“It’s only the first meeting this week and I’m already losing my patience. Things would go a lot faster if they would just listen to what we wanted. We have all the details ironed out and everything.”

“You know how it is, they’re not invested in putting on a show the same way that we are. They just want to make their money and call it a day.”

“Yeah, and we’re the ones that are going to make the money for them, but we can’t do that if they don’t let us put on a show the way we want to.”

Josh reached over and put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a tough squeeze. I finally pulled the keys out of the ignition and stuck them in the pocket of my sweatshirt.

“What do you say we take our minds off of this for awhile and have a nice lunch? There’s no point in worrying when we can’t do anything about it right now.”

“You’re right.”

Josh gave my shoulder another squeeze and then finally stepped out of the car. I sat for a moment longer, giving myself a chance to take a couple deep breaths, before following suit and joining him on the sidewalk. He tilted his head, giving me the signal to lead the way.

“Hi, how are you doing today?” the host smiled at us as we walked in.

“I’m doing alright, how about you?”

“Great. Is it just the two of you today?”

“Yep.”

“Alright, right this way.”

I turned to make sure Josh was still behind me before following the host further back into the restaurant. A couple people gave us looks as we walked past, but I didn’t pay much attention to them. It was something that I had quickly gotten used to over the last couple years.

“Is this table alright?” the host asked.

“Yes, thank you.”

He nodded, set our menus down on the table, and then walked off. Josh and I slid into either side of the booth and began to look over our menus, neither of us saying much.

“Do you know what you’re going to get?” Josh finally said, breaking the silence.

“Probably a burger and fries. I barely ate anything this morning so I’m starving.”

He nodded. “Their burgers look really good.”

“Is that what you’re going to get?”

“Maybe. The chicken wrap also looks like it could be good.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Expecting it to be some email announcing that there was another meeting scheduled or that our lunch had been cut early, I immediately pulled it out of my pocket and checked it. Thankfully, it was a text from Y/N instead.

**_Y/N:_ ** _Little dude got peanut butter all over his face. Thought it might brighten your day :)_

Attached was a picture of Max sitting in Carter’s lap, holding a smushed peanut butter and jelly sandwich in one hand. As Y/N had said, his face was absolutely covered in peanut butter, but he was smiling.

**_Tyler:_ ** _It did :) Thank you for sharing_

I slipped my phone back into my pocket and went back to looking over the menu, even though I had already pretty much decided what I wanted. Across from me, Josh was still doing the same.

“Ok, I think I’m ready,” he announced, closing his menu and placing his menu on the table.

“I am too.”

Shortly after, a waitress walked up to our table. She went through the usual routine of introducing herself and asking us what we wanted to get started with, but Josh and I went ahead and ordered our full meals. With a smile, she took down our orders and whisked our menus away.

“Alright, now that that’s out of the way,” Josh said, leaning forward to put his elbows on the table. “How have you been, Tyler? We haven’t really had a chance to talk about anything besides the band so far.”

“I’m alright. We went to Y/N’s brother’s wedding over the weekend, which was really nice.”

“Oh yeah, I saw the pictures from that. It looks like you had a good time.”

“Yeah, it was a nice way to unwind after getting home from tour. Her family is awesome too so it was nice to spend a day with them.”

“I’m glad you got a chance to do that.”

“Me too,” I smiled. “How are things over in LA? Are you still liking living out there?”

“Yeah, although I do miss Columbus from time to time.”

“Do you ever think about moving back?”

Josh shook his head. “I would be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind from time to time, but I’m really happy in LA. The weather, the people, the lifestyle… I’m too used to it now to give it up.”

“I miss having you in Ohio, but I’m glad to hear that you’re doing well out there. That’s the most important thing to me.”

“And I’m glad you’re doing well here.”

My mouth twitched up into a smile for a moment, but it quickly faltered again. Josh took notice of this, I could tell by the way that his eyebrows furrowed when I said it.

“Are you doing alright, Tyler? You don’t really seem like yourself.”

“I don’t know. It’s just that… all this tour stuff is really taking a toll on me. We shouldn’t have to fight this hard to get people to listen to us, you know? If they keep this up, we’re just going to have to schedule more meetings. You’ll be stuck here longer, I won’t be able to spend as much time with Y/N, and who knows if we’ll even be able to start the tour on time.”

“So that’s what this is about.”

“What?”

“Y/N.”

“Isn’t it always?” I smiled.

“But she understands why you’re busy, right? I don’t think you need to be stressed about that.”

“I guess so. I just hate spending so much time away from her, especially when we’re supposed to be having a break. I miss her when we’re stuck in those stupid meetings, and I can only imagine what it’s like for her to be home alone. I mean, I just spent an entire month on the other side of the world and now I’m gone again. She deserves better than that.”

Better than someone like me.

“I know it’s hard right now, man, but it’s only going to be rough for these couple of weeks and then we’re on tour again.”

Josh came to a stop as the waitress showed up with our drinks. We each thanked her and I wasted no time in ripping the paper off my straw and sticking it into my soda. The cool drink soothed my throat after another long morning of having to raise my voice at people.

“Anyway, what I was trying to say is that it’s going to be hard for awhile, but it won’t be forever. Soon enough, we’ll be back on that tour bus and things will be going smoothly.”

I smiled and nodded. Josh’s intentions were good, but it didn’t exactly reassure me. Y/N and I couldn’t have cozy movie nights in our own bed or eat together on the porch when we were on tour. Sure, the time together was always nice and I wanted to use every second of it, but it wasn’t quite the same as nights with her in Columbus.

“Sometimes it seems like I’m being pulled in every direction and I don’t have time to balance everything. Like, we’re home for three weeks and I somehow have to balance work and Y/N and my family and my own wellbeing and all of them want as much time as they can get. No matter how hard I try to make it work, it just seems like there’s always something that’s not getting the attention it needs.”

“Your wellbeing,” Josh said. It was a statement, not a question.

“Exactly, but also everything else. It’s like I can’t win.”

“I think you’re doing a better job than you’re giving yourself credit for, Tyler.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

“I just feel bad that I don’t have more opportunities to make up for lost time…”

My sentence was interrupted by a couple young boys walking up to our table. One was nervously clutching his phone, the other was obviously too nervous - or starstruck - to say anything.

“You… you guys are Twenty One Pilots, right?” the one with the phone asked.

“Yeah, we are,” Josh smiled. He had always been better at handling these situations than me. “How are you guys doing?”

“Great,” the same boy answered. “We were actually wondering if we could get a picture with you guys?”

“Tyler?” Josh asked, turning to me.

I put on a smile, hoping that it came across as genuine. It wasn’t that I was upset by the kids - it was the opposite, really - but I was still wrapped up in my head about the Y/N situation and I was having a hard time shaking it.

“Of course.”

Josh and I took some pictures with the boys and talked for a little while until they announced that they should get back to their friends. Their reactions as they walked off was enough to put a genuine smile on my face for the first time that day, and it also served as a nice reminder about why I was fighting so hard for our creative vision in the first place.

“I’m still not used to that,” Josh said, adjusting his hat on his head. “I have people just walk up to me all the time and ask for pictures and I always have to refrain from asking if they’re looking for someone else. It’s like I forget that I’m famous.”

“Me too,” I laughed. “It happened when Y/N and I were at the grocery store the other day. My hair was a mess and I was in sweatpants and everything because we were just having a lazy day. The best part, though, was when one of the girls complimented Y/N. The look on her face was priceless.”

“Oh geez, I can only imagine. Jordan was telling me a story yesterday about how one of his friend’s sisters recognized him when he was over at his house. It’s crazy that we’re reaching _that_ level of fame now.”

“Right? In my head it still feels like we’re some kids playing shows wherever we can get them and trying to get a record label. I’m just waiting for the dream to end and I’ll go right back to March of 2011.”

“You know, as important as that time is to me, I’m happy with where we’re at now.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Me too.”

“Also, I know I said that we should have a relaxing lunch, but I do think there are some things that we should figure out before we go back into that meeting. The more stuff we agree on, the more power we’ll have in trying to get them on our side.”

“Agreed.”

“Ok, where do you want to start?”


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 1908
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

“Everything that he needs should be in that bag,” Marenna said, pointing to the bag she had just set down next to the door. “He’ll probably need lunch in about an hour and then he usually falls asleep right after that. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to give one of us a call. Thank you again for doing this for us.”

“Of course,” you smiled. “We’re happy to spend time with him.”

“Alright, Ren, we should probably get going.”

Marenna gave Max one final kiss on the head and then followed Carter out the door. You and Max both waved at them as they got into their car and pulled out of the driveway.

“Unkie,” Max frowned once the door was closed. “Want unkie.”

“Unkie Tyler is in the living room. Did you want to go see him?”

Max nodded, so you set him down on the floor and let him take off by himself. You followed close behind, just to make sure he didn’t fall or run into anything. Although his walking skills were pretty well developed by now, you didn’t want to have to break the news to Carter and Marenna that you had accidentally let Max injure himself.

“Unkie!” Max cheered as he ran into the room.

He made a beeline to Tyler and grabbed his legs. Tyler smiled and grabbed Max, pulling him up onto his lap. Max, being the hugger that he was, quickly wrapped his arms around Tyler.

“Hey, little dude.”

“Unkie,” Max repeated.

Max finally let go of Tyler and clambered back off the couch, immediately taking off down the hall. You were always surprised by how fast his little legs could carry him all over the place.

He quickly arrived at his destination: the closet in the hall where you kept all the toys that you and Tyler had for your nieces and nephews. Max looked up at you with a huge smile on his face, one hand pressed flat against the closet door. You smiled and ruffled his hair.

“Do you want to play with some toys?”

“Toys,” he repeated.

You carefully guided Max out of the way and then opened the closet door, allowing him full view of all his options. His eyes roamed around the space, taking in everything that was available to him, before he spoke.

“Cars,” he said, pointing to a couple toy cars on a higher shelf.

“You want to play with some cars?”

“Mhmm.”

You grabbed a couple cars, double checking with Max that they were good, and then helped him carry them back out to the living room.

“Unkie!” Max smiled upon seeing him again. “Play.”

“Are we going to play with some cars?”

“That’s the plan,” you chimed in.

Tyler came and sat on the ground next to you and Max, who was carefully passing out cars for each of you. You had been gifted with a bright blue car and a bright red car. Meanwhile, Tyler had been given the important role of manning the police car.

“I’m sorry this is how we have to spend our day off,” you said, dropping your voice a little bit. “I know it isn’t exactly what we had planned for our break.”

Tyler reached out and rubbed your arm, “It’s ok. We still get to spend time together and that’s the important part. Besides, I really like watching Max. He’s a cool little dude.”

Your mouth curled up into a smile, “You’re right.”

“I know.”

Tyler leaned over and gave you a quick kiss. Shortly after, Max demanded your attention and together, the three of you started to play with your cars.

“Wee-woo! Wee-woo! Police coming through!” Tyler said, driving his car across the rug and nearly hitting Max’s car, making him giggle.

“Ahh!” Max screeched, pulling his car out of the way.

“You’re under arrest!”

“No!” Max frowned.

“Oh, sorry, wrong guy. Have a nice day, sir.”

Tyler continued to push his car along the rug, whizzing past Max’s other cars. He laughed loudly, amused by Tyler’s crazy police antics. You mostly sat and watched, enjoying Max’s reactions to whatever Tyler decided to do.

This pattern continued for most of the afternoon, although the activities slowly rotated out. At one point you were building block towers, another time Max insisted on a dinosaur puzzle, and you even did some coloring. Eventually, Max started to get grumpy, which was when you realized that it was getting close to when Marenna had said he should eat lunch.

“What do you think, Max? Is it time for lunch?” you asked.

Max nodded and held his arms out to you. You scooped him up and carried him to the kitchen. Tyler followed behind the two of you, quickly typing something out on his phone.

“What do you want to have for lunch? Mac and cheese?”

Max shook his head.

“Some chicken nuggets?”

Another head shake.

“What about sandwiches?”

Max eyes lit up and he began to nod, which you should have expected. Sandwiches were Max’s favorite food, after all. Tyler, who had finished whatever caught his interest on his phone, began to grab ingredients so that you wouldn’t have to try and do that with one arm. You gave him a kiss on the cheek as thanks.

“Do you want peanut butter and jelly, Maxy?” Tyler asked.

He nodded again. “Peanut bubber.”

Tyler turned to look at you and Max, the smile on his face evident.

“What was that?”

Max’s eyebrows furrowed in determination. “Peanut bubber.”

“Yes, peanut butter,” he said, his smile growing even more now.

“Don’t forget to cut off the crusts, love. He doesn’t like them.”

“No crusts. Got it. Did you want a sandwich too?”

“Yes, please. Hey, Max, do you want some juice?” He nodded. “Ty, can you watch him for a second while I go grab a juice from the bag?”

“Yeah, I’ll take him.”

You passed Max into Tyler’s arms and then quickly made your way to the living room to grab one of Max’s juice boxes. It always surprised you how much juice his little tummy was able to consume. When you returned, you were met with the sight of Tyler expertly holding Max in one arm and spreading peanut butter onto bread with the other. You took a moment to stand and admire the two of them. Max was completely content watching Tyler make sandwiches, and Tyler was doing such a good job with him.

Is this what things would be like when you had your own family?

You shook the thought from your head. Those days were still a long way off and you were far from in a rush to start your own family. Babysitting Max was more than enough for your schedule right now.

“Alright, Max, I have your juice. Do you want to come drink it?”

“Unkie,” he frowned, leaning further into Tyler.

“Ty? Is that ok?” you asked.

“Yeah, we’re fine. I just might need some help.”

“I’ve got it.”

You helped Tyler finish up making lunch and then carried it all to the table. It was a bit of a struggle to get Max to stay still in his high chair, but with a bit of teamwork you managed to get it done. He happily sipped on his juice once you and Tyler finally settled down and joined him at the table.

“How is your sandwich, Max?” Tyler asked.

“Yum.”

“Better than Carter’s sandwiches?”

Max paused for a moment, then shook his head. Tyler’s face fell.

“I told you, Carter makes the best sandwiches,” you chimed in.

“You two are biased, you’re both related to him.”

“Are you really trying to tell me that you don’t think Carter makes the best sandwiches?”

“Ok, maybe he does, but one day I’ll find someone who thinks I’m better than him.”

You reached over and gave Tyler a reassuring pat on the back, “I’m sure you will, love.”

“Auntie,” Max said. “Juice.”

He held his juice box up high for you to see. You looked at it and nodded.

“Yes, Maxy, that is your juice.”

“Yum.”

After displaying his juice for awhile longer, he took another long sip. His face was already covered in a mix of peanut butter and jelly, despite the fact that he hadn’t eaten more than a quarter of his sandwich. You weren’t looking forward to having to clean him up later.

The rest of your lunch was spent having quiet conversation with Tyler, occasionally pausing to listen to Max make an announcement or clean a particularly large glob of peanut butter off of his face. He took his sweet time finishing his sandwich. You stayed behind to sit with him while Tyler began to clean up the dishes.

When he was finally done, you carried him into the kitchen and grabbed a wet rag to clean all the food off of his face. Tyler rinsed off his plate, stuck it in the dishwasher, and disappeared from the room. Max pulled away from you when you started to clean his face, but his tiredness started to settle in and he became more compliant.

“Are you feeling tired, Max?” you asked. He nodded slowly. “Do you want to watch some TV?”

“Movie,” he smiled.

“Ok, we can watch a movie.”

You wiped the last bit of food off his face, took off his bib, and scooped him up into your arms. He immediately rested his head against your shoulder and slung an arm lazily around yours. Tyler smiled at the two of you as you walked into the room.

“Someone is tired,” he grinned.

“I know, he’s like a tiny sack of potatoes.”

“Do you want me to hold him?”

“Unkie,” Max mumbled into your shoulder.

“I guess that’s our answer,” you laughed quietly.

Tyler gently took Max from your arms, helping him get settled against his chest. You took a moment to stretch out your own muscles that had grown tired after holding him. Max barely even budged as Tyler carefully leaned further back into the couch, giving him a little more room to lay down.

“Do you need anything before I get comfortable?” you asked.

“Could you grab me a Red Bull from the fridge? I meant to grab one and forgot.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

After getting a drink for you and Tyler from the kitchen, you finally got comfortable on the couch and pulled a nearby blanket around your shoulders. Although you had only spent a couple hours taking care of Max, you were wiped out after chasing him around the house.

You started playing a movie off of Netflix that you knew Max liked and sank back into the cushions. It was hard to keep your eyes open between the warm blanket and having Tyler nearby, but you fought the sleep away. At least one of you needed to stay awake in case Max needed something, and based on the way that Tyler’s eyes were already fluttering closed, it wasn’t going to be him.

Shortly into the movie, both Tyler and Max were asleep and snoring. You looked over at the two of them, watching how both of their chests were rising and falling steadily. Tyler had one arm wrapped protectively around Max’s back, holding him in place. It was hard to keep the smile off of your face.

This hadn’t been such a bad way to spend a day off, after all.


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst, angry!Tyler
> 
> Word Count: 2049
> 
> Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you enjoy this chapter today :)

I idly drew doodles in the margins of my notepad as the team droned on about some matter that didn’t really concern me. My head was so heavy on my hand that I knew it would leave a mark when I finally pulled away, but I didn’t care. Next to me, Josh actually seemed to be paying attention, but he was still drumming his fingers on the table. I liked the beat.

Another song lyric floated through my brain, so I quickly wrote it down beneath the others before it got away from me. Lately, it felt like the only thing these meetings were good for was coming up with fragments of song lyrics and making my throat sore. Nothing else productive ever seemed to get done.

“We got the visuals back from the artists. I have some stills here, but you should all be receiving an email tonight with the full videos for review.”

Now this actually seemed interesting. I scribbled down the words “visual review” in the corner of my page, ripped it off, and stuck it into my pocket. Nobody seemed to notice.

“We think that the visuals are adequate, but not exactly as we intended.”

We?

“And as a result, we’re thinking about cutting the payment of the artists. This will also save us some room in the budget to put elsewhere.”

I leaned forward in my chair. People’s eyes immediately went to me, anticipating what I was about to say.

“Cutting the artist’s pay? How do we know if their work is ‘adequate’ or not if my team hasn’t even had a chance to do a full review?”

“Well our artistic board-”

“Exactly, _your_ artistic board. Last time I checked, your artistic board isn’t the one putting on a show,” I said. “And no matter how we feel about the visuals, the artists did the work and deserve full payment for their time and effort.”

“But they didn’t deliver-”

“They did. The visuals were done to the best of their ability and provided by the deadline that we gave them. We’re giving them full payment and _my_ team can decide whether the work is satisfactory or not.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Joseph, but then we’re going to have to raise ticket prices to make up for the losses.”

“What is all this crap about raising ticket prices?” My voice was getting louder now. “We gave you the budget months ago! Everything was laid out with enough money to cover all costs and keep ticket prices exactly where we wanted them, but your company decided to put things off until it didn’t work anymore.” Josh reached out and put a hand on my back. My shoulders relaxed, but my voice remained raised. “Our fans are not in charge of paying the price for your poor choices. That art looks fantastic and, if I’m being honest, the only people here that aren’t delivering satisfactory work is you.”

I stood up then, sending my chair flying out behind me. Josh’s hand fell away from my back. I turned on my heel and headed for the door, still fuming.

“Where are you going?” someone asked. I couldn’t place the voice.

“I’m taking a break. I’ll be back in ten.”

I walked down the hallway, unsure of where I was going, until I found a sign marked with the stairs. My hands were curled into fists at my side until my nails were digging into my palms. It had been a long time since I was this angry, but the stupidity of the company we had chosen to put on this tour was sending me over the edge. Tour was only a week and a half away and it still felt like we had more loose ends than we did answers.

Most of all, I hated that this was what I was missing out on time with my family for.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and immediately dialed Y/N’s number. She would know what to say to get me calm again before I walked back into that conference room. My leg bounced as the phone rang, alleviating only a small portion of the emotions I was feeling. They were quickly getting overwhelming.

“Tyler?” she answered. Just that simple word was enough to release some of the tension in my shoulders.

“Hi, love.”

“What’s going on? Aren’t you supposed to be in a meeting right now?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, “Yes, but it’s not going well. I just blew up on the company representative.”

“Oh no,” she sighed. “What are they trying to get you to do today?”

“Raise ticket prices again! It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them I don’t want to do that, they won’t let it go.”

“Ty, hey, it’s ok. At the end of the day, you still have the power in this situation.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“Is there somewhere else that you can cut costs a little bit? Weren’t you talking about maybe switching out some of the fancier effects for something a little simpler?”

“Yeah, there’s definitely places that we could do it, they just don’t like to listen to those ideas as much. It’s hard to convince them that it would actually help the budget.”

“I know, but it’s worth a shot. It’s like I’ve been saying, you and Josh just need to team up and get your ideas in there. Plus, you have Mark to back you up too. The power is there.”

“I’ll talk to them before the next meeting and really get things solid. I hate to ignore the progress that we are making, but the problems just feel so much bigger right now.”

“You’re going to get this worked out, Ty. I know you will. Think of how much you’ve been through to get here. Even if, at the end of the day, things don’t work out exactly how you want them to, you know people will be happy as long as you’re there singing the songs with them. You were popular even before you had the big productions.”

I sighed. “You’re right. I’ll try to keep that in mind. I just get so wrapped up in this vision that Josh and I created that I forget it’s the music that really matters. Thank you.”

“Of course. I know the show is going to be great no matter what you end up doing.”

“You always know the right thing to say,” I smiled.

“It’s a talent of mine,” she laughed.

“I just wish that I wasn’t stuck at this stupid meeting today.”

“It’s ok, Ty,” she said, but I could tell that her tone had changed. “You’re doing important band stuff. We’ll have a break soon enough.”

“I hope so.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the door to the stairs swinging open. Josh’s head poked through the door, quickly scanning the area. Relief came over his face as soon as he saw me.

“There you are. We need you back in the conference room. Things are happening.”

“Ok, let me finish this up and then I’ll be there.”

Josh nodded and disappeared again, letting the door swing shut behind him. I waited for it to fully close before I started talking to Y/N again.

“Sorry about that. Josh showed up.”

“I heard.”

“Anyway, I guess they need me back there.”

“Time to let you go?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. I love you, and don’t let them get to you, ok, Ty? I know you can find a way to put on the show you’ve been dreaming about.”

“Thank you, Y/N. I love you too.”

“Bye.”

“Wait.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you remember that I’m going over to my parents’ tonight for dinner?”

“I remember now,” she laughed. It sounded forced.

“Ok.”

“Good luck, Ty.”

“Thanks.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

I ended the call, now feeling a different sort of discomfort in my chest. It took me a moment to finally get off the steps and walk out the door back towards the conference room. My mind was running its endless loop of questions, but no matter where I looked, I came up with no answers. It felt like a weight in my head, dragging me further and further down.

I hadn’t felt that way in a long time.

* * *

The meeting finally ended around four that night. There was another one scheduled for the next day - which the company claimed would be the last additional meeting we had to schedule - although after today’s events, I was feeling hopeful. They were finally starting to listen to the ideas that Josh and I had, helped along by the fact that Y/N had given me a new sense of confidence about the show. After a few more emails and phone calls, I was sure that things would finally start coming together.

My mom was the one to open the door when I knocked. She immediately pulled me into a hug, squeezing me tight enough that I nearly coughed. I didn’t blame her, I had only been able to find enough time to see my family once since I had gotten home from tour a week and a half ago, and most of my siblings hadn’t even been around. This time had been a little more planned so that Zack and Maddy would be able to stop by too.

“I’ve missed you so much,” my mom said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

“I’ve missed you too, Mom.”

I went around and hugged each of my siblings and my dad. It was nice to have everyone together again for a family dinner. The last time we had a get together like this was before the Australian leg of the tour nearly a month and a half ago.

“Dinner is already ready, if you guys want to eat. I made it early since I figured you would be hungry after your meeting, Tyler.”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

Everyone stayed pretty quiet, aside from small talk, as we dished up our food. I was sure that my family was full of questions to ask me, but they knew better than to try and ask before I was settled at the table. Right now, my mind was on food and food only.

We eventually all sat down at the table in the places that we had been assigned since childhood. Once everyone was comfortable and had taken a couple bites of food, the questions slowly began to come out.

“How was your meeting today, Tyler?” my dad asked.

“It was alright. I kind of blew up on the representative today-”

“ _Tyler_ ,” my mom chimed in. Zack barely concealed a laugh.

“Mom, listen, it’s only because they keep trying to make us raise ticket prices even though we’ve had the budget planned out for weeks. It didn’t matter how many times I told them that wasn’t going to happen, they kept insisting.”

My mom kept a disappointed look on her face, but deep down I could tell that she knew I was right. From day one, she had always made sure that I knew staying true to myself was vital as I continued to pursue music. That advice had stuck with me since.

“Are they starting to listen though?” Maddy asked. “I mean, there’s only like a week and a half until tour starts, right?”

“Yeah, they’re finally coming around. Josh and I have been fighting with them pretty much all week, though. They’re bringing us in for another meeting tomorrow.”

“Another one?” Jay asked.

“They flew Josh in?” Zack chimed in right after.

“Yes and yes. That’s how big of a problem all of this is.”

“Geez,” my dad said. “That sounds intense.”

“It is. I’m barely hanging on by a thread here.”

My mom reached over and reassuringly rubbed my shoulder. “You’re safe here, Tyler. We’re not going to let you fall.”

I quickly glanced around the table to see that the rest of my family was nodding along with my mom. Warmth spread throughout my chest at knowing that they still had my back, even if I couldn’t always make as much time as I wanted to for them. At the end of the day, they were still my family.

_We’re not going to let you fall._


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Word Count: 1885
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

You were starting to wear thin.

This was the fourth meeting Tyler had this week - supposedly the last one, although you weren’t entirely trusting of that statement - which meant that it was also the fourth day that you had spent without him on your “break”. Sure, you knew that there were a lot of things that he had to work out before tour started in a week, but this was starting to get ridiculous. Your patience was quickly dwindling.

It was nearing the time that Tyler was supposed to get home - on time, for once - although it didn’t really matter. After every meeting this week, he had ended up spending an additional three or four hours on his laptop, doing more work. You usually spent this time watching TV in close proximity to him, but that was often the extent of your interaction. It gave you that same familiar feeling of Tyler still being away on tour, even when you were on the same couch.

You weren’t so sure that you would be able to keep it inside much longer.

The front door opened, pulling you back out of your daydream. Tyler was stepping through, carrying a couple folders in his arms. He smiled at you once he realized you were sitting on the couch.

“Hi, lovely.”

“Hi.”

He finished taking off his shoes and then walked into the living room to give you a kiss, still carrying the folders under his arm. Once he had finished his hello, he continued on into the kitchen.

“How were things here?” he asked. You heard him drop the folders onto the table with a thud.

“They were ok. I talked to Marenna on the phone for awhile, but other than that things were boring as usual. How were your meetings?”

“I’m sorry to hear that. The meetings were good, but they were long and I’m exhausted. The good news, though, is that we’re _finally_ getting things done. As long as things go well early next week, we’ll be good to go on time.”

The faucet started running, so you held off on your comment since you knew Tyler wouldn’t be able to hear you anyway. You idly tapped your hands on your knees.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you hear me?”

“Yeah, I was just waiting for you to finish running the sink.”

“Ok.”

Tyler’s footsteps were loud as he came back from the kitchen and joined you on the couch. You smiled at him as he got comfortable.

“I’m glad things are going better, I know that’s been stressing you out lately.”

If only the things that had been stressing _you_ out would suddenly get better.

“Yeah, it’s like a huge weight off my shoulders. There are a couple things that I’ll have to work on tonight and this weekend to make sure we don’t fall behind, but it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Of course.”

Tyler made a face at you, but didn’t ask any questions. He just took another long sip of water.

“At the meeting today, we watched a rendering of what the beginning of the show is going to look like,” Tyler said. He was barely keeping the smile off his face. “It’s so cool, I can’t wait for you to see it at rehearsals next week. It’s just like… yeah. You just have to see it.”

“I’m sure it’s amazing, Ty. I can’t wait.”

“Oh! And we were talking about having Josh do a drumline at some of the shows. He’s going to come up with some stuff this weekend, but I think that will be super cool. I like when he has a chance to shine like that.”

“Yeah, I’m sure the fans will love it.”

Tyler tapped his finger against the side of his glass a couple times. His lips were pressed together, meaning that he was probably thinking about something. You decided not to press it, your mind was too busy focusing on other things.

“Are you ok, Y/N? You’re acting off.”

“Can we talk about something?” you asked. The words were out of your mouth before you even had a chance to reconsider.

Tyler’s eyebrows furrowed, but he finished the long drink of water he was taking before setting his cup down on the coffee table.

“What do you need to talk about?”

You started to chew on your bottom lip. This was your last chance to back out and just drop the topic altogether, although deep down you knew that was something you couldn’t do. Bottling up your emotions wasn’t going to do anyone any favors.

“This last week, I’ve just felt like… I don’t know how to say this, but I guess I’ve just felt like you don’t really… care… about me.”

Tyler’s face immediately fell. You reached out to grab his hand, but he pulled away. A wave of anxiety washed over you, but you took a deep breath and pushed it down.

“You really think I don’t care about you?”

“I mean, no, I know you do. Of course I know that. It’s just, ever since Sunday, it feels like all we ever talk about is the band. You’ve spent almost every night this week working on tour prep and, yes, you’re here, but this is supposed to be our break, Tyler. Lately, it’s just felt like you’re on tour again.”

He sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. You were still chewing on your bottom lip enough that it was starting to throb, but you couldn’t get yourself to stop.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Y/N, but I’m doing the best that I can. Our tour is literally falling apart in front of my eyes and the company that we chose to put it on is doing next to nothing to help us, so it’s all falling back onto our team. That means I’ve been taking on double the amount of work that I usually have to in order to make sure everything is actually getting completed on time. Then when you add in trying to make up for lost time with you and family and friends on top of that, it just becomes a lot to handle.”

“I know it is, and I’m trying my best to be patient, but lately it feels like you don’t even want to make that effort. I miss how things used to be, when we would play Mario Kart together or go on spontaneous trips to the beach.”

“What, when we were 21?”

“Yes.”

“We’re not 21 anymore, Y/N. The band is bigger now. My family is growing. There are other people out there who need me and are relying on me. I can’t just throw that all away for a day to pretend like we’re kids again, as much as I might want to. It’s not an option anymore. And frankly, I think it’s selfish of you to expect something like that from me.”

“I don’t think I’m asking you for that much!” You had been able to keep your voice steady up until this point, but now the emotions were really starting to seep in. Tyler was trying to hide his emotions, you could tell by the way he was keeping his mouth in a straight line, but they were just barely starting to show on his face. Fights between you two were uncommon. “You know I love you, Tyler, and I want to support you as much as I can, but cuddling up at night and watching a movie where you end up falling asleep halfway through doesn’t feel like quality time!”

“Who did I spend last week with, huh? And all weekend? Because if I remember correctly, aside from one family dinner and a meeting, it was _you_. Not the friends that I hadn’t seen in over a month, not my siblings, but _you_. I don’t know what else I can do to please you, because right now I’m giving you as much as I can. And if you’re not happy with that, then…” His voice broke a little, but he quickly gained his composure again. “...then I don’t know what to tell you.”

The conversation came to a stop. Both of you sat silently, avoiding one another’s eyes. You sat with bated breath, waiting for the next words that you were sure were coming. This was the end. You would have to pack your things and find somewhere else to stay. The one person you loved was leaving because you were too selfish to understand where he was coming from.

But the words never came.

“What do you think we should do?”

Tyler’s voice was quiet. It didn’t sound quite like him. You knew without looking that he was crying, you had known him long enough to recognize the tone of voice he was using.

“I’m sorry I brought this up.” It wasn’t an answer to his question, but you needed it to be said.

Tyler cleared his throat. “It’s fine.”

“Ok.”

A tear slipped down your cheek, falling from your chin to the dark material of your jeans. You wiped at your face, getting rid of the trace it had left behind.

“I’ll just go.”

You got up and made it to the bottom of the stairs before Tyler had a chance to say anything.

“Where are you going?”

“Upstairs,” you sniffled.

“So is our conversation over?”

“Tyler, listen, I don’t think either of us are going to budge about this right now and I feel awful and I just need to clear my head for awhile. I want to figure this out, I do, but after the discussion we had I don’t think either of us are in a place to do that.”

Tyler paused, then slowly began to nod. “You’re right. Just promise you’ll stay here tonight?”

“I’ll stay. I promise.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

You waited a moment longer, just in case Tyler was going to say something else, before heading up the stairs. When he stayed quiet, you quickly made your way to the bedroom, shut the door, and then curled up in the blankets. Now that Tyler was out of sight, you let the tears fall freely down your cheeks as you thought over every word that had been exchanged between you two.

He was right, as much as you hated to admit it.You were supposed to be his support system, yet here you were complaining about him not spending enough time with you because he was caught up with work. It was stupid and selfish and, worst of all, it had hurt Tyler. That thought alone made your stomach twist and brought a fresh wave of tears to your eyes. He had enough going on already, and you had just added a new layer to it.

Your brain was too muddled with thoughts to even try and think of some sort of solution, so you pushed your face deeper into the pillow and let the tears flow for as long as they needed to. Things would start to make sense eventually, but first you needed to let all the emotion escape. It would just take some time.

Until then, you tried not to think about the fact that you might have lost Tyler for good.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Word Count: 2081
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

I wasn’t sure how long I ended up sitting on the couch, staring straight at the ground until the edges of my vision became fuzzy. My mind was bouncing all over the place, flooding me with one emotion and then immediately changing its course. I felt paralyzed, unable to control the things my head was screaming at me, and there was only thing I knew would fix it.

Unfortunately, talking to her wasn’t exactly an option right now.

I didn’t know what exactly it was that finally snapped me out of my trance. Maybe it was the fact that my stomach was starting to rumble after not eating all day, or maybe the complete silence of the house was finally wearing me down and I needed _something_ to fill the silence. Whatever it was, it was enough to get me off the couch and into the kitchen. I turned on the stereo, tuning it to the radio station that Y/N and I often listened to, and leaned against the counter. I could hear my phone vibrating against the coffee table in the other room, but I left the messages unanswered.

Work was far from the first of my concerns at the moment.

My stomach rumbled again, so I began to shuffle around the kitchen looking for something to eat. Y/N had mentioned ordering pizza for dinner, but I figured that was out of the question now. She had said that she needed space and I wasn’t going to ignore that request, especially for something as stupid as dinner plans. Instead, I would find something to make for myself. The task would also help to keep my mind occupied for a little while.

After a quick look through the cabinets - and very nearly deciding on eating a bag of chips for dinner, until I remembered that Y/N wouldn’t be happy if I did that - I found some ingredients to make myself a ham and cheese sandwich, Doritos included. There was also some leftover fruit salad tucked away, so I added a bit of that to the plate as well. And of course, to top it all off, I grabbed a Red Bull. It may have been a classic tour dinner, but it was still better than a bag of chips.

I finished cleaning up all of my dinner ingredients and then scooped all my things into my arms. Since Y/N still hadn’t come downstairs, or even left our bedroom for that matter, I decided to eat out on the porch. That way, she would be able to grab her own dinner from the kitchen without having to worry about running into me. It probably wouldn’t be such a bad idea for me to not see her either, since I was still working out exactly how I felt towards her.

The sky was only just barely beginning to grow dim as I took a seat at the little table we had out on the porch. My plate clinked against the metal as I set it down, scaring a bird out of a nearby tree. I sat down and got comfortable, resting my feet on the chair that Y/N usually sat in. The atmosphere was peaceful, but not quite the same as when she was with me. It was rare that I ate dinner outside alone, and it was never because Y/N and I were fighting.

At least, it never _had_ been.

I still loved Y/N, that much was obvious to me, but the rest was difficult to place. There was anger over the things that she had said, sure, but behind that anger was fear that I wasn’t doing enough. Since day one, that had always been my greatest fear. I never wanted her to doubt that she was loved and cared for, but evidently I had fallen short. It was like a knife straight to the chest, hearing those words come out of her mouth.

I stopped eating and sat back in my chair; what little appetite that had existed was now gone. A lump was beginning to form in my throat, making it hard to swallow anyway. Y/N’s words wouldn’t stop echoing in my head.

Why hadn’t I just listened? Why did I have to turn it into an argument?

I buried my face in my hands, clenching my jaw to try and keep the tears from coming. My mind was dragging up feelings that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Falling back into the pattern was almost easy.

She’s too good for you.

You’ve ruined everything.

Things will never be the same.

All I could do was wait and hope they were wrong.

* * *

It was only a short time after dinner when I finally gave in and grabbed my phone. There were at least a hundred messages in the group chat, discussing topics and occasionally trying to get my attention. Josh had even called a couple times over the last hour. On top of that were emails from both the company we were working with and other companies that were providing us with equipment and various other supplies. I brushed a hand through my hair, twisting the strands around my finger.

I still needed that haircut.

After a quick text to the group that I would be available in a second, I wandered back into the dining room to grab my laptop and the folders I had been sent home with. They were full of documents and mockups of what the stage would look like when everything came together that I needed to review and sign off on by Monday. If I worked fast, I might be able to get it all done by the end of the night so that I would have the rest of the weekend to spend with Y/N to make up for being so busy over the last week.

I turned on the TV to a low volume so that I would be able to have some background noise while I worked. Within minutes, there were documents covering the coffee table and texts were flooding into the group chat. This time, I was there and actually able to be a part of the discussion. Things were going well - we were even coming to an agreement over most of what needed to be changed and what could stay - but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. I tried to brush it off and focus on what we were doing, but it never quite went away.

It wasn’t until I turned to ask Y/N a question that I realized what was missing. My shoulders immediately sunk and I turned back to my computer to ask the group instead, although it wasn’t really their opinions that I needed. Y/N always seemed to have an eye for tour stuff. I decided to set aside that folder for now and get her help on it later, hopefully when things were back to normal again.

If that time ever came.

I continued to work on tour stuff for the next few hours, getting through as much of it as I could while still being thorough. Most of the group eventually left to enjoy a peaceful night, but I kept going. It was doing wonders to keep my mind off the situation with Y/N, which was otherwise trying to drag me down. I still hadn’t seen so much as a glimpse of her since she went upstairs after our argument. It was almost like I was home alone.

That’s when it clicked. All the things that I had been feeling all night - the silence, eating dinner alone, my thoughts running off to the wildest possibilities - _that’s_ what Y/N had been dealing with all week. Feeling like I was still on tour was about more than just not being able to spend time with me, although that still played a part. Everything she said made complete and total sense now, and I felt even worse for the things I said in return.

I sank back into the couch, letting my arms fall to the sides as I fully relaxed for the first time all day. No wonder she was so upset that all I talked about was band stuff. Y/N had to spend most of the day without me, although sometimes she did see family and friends when they weren’t busy, and then as soon as I got home I talked her ear off about all the things that had happened that day. My mind had been so wrapped up in finishing everything on time that I had forgotten we were supposed to be taking a break to just be with one another. No work involved.

There was definitely an apology to be made.

* * *

It was eleven before I finally went up to bed. I had wanted to give Y/N as much time as possible to be alone before I finally trudged upstairs to join her, although I nearly fell asleep while I was waiting for the clock to hit eleven. The physical and emotional exhaustion of the day was finally wearing down on me, it seemed.

I knocked twice on the door before leaning against it, listening closely for a reply.

“What?”

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

I slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside. The only light was coming from the lamp that stood on my bedside table, which just so happened to be where Y/N was laying. Her face was obscured from view by a mountain of blankets, though I could tell from the half-open book on the bedside table that this was only a recent change in position.

“I’m just going to get ready for bed.”

“Ok.”

I tried to ignore my desire to join Y/N on the bed as I shut the bathroom door behind me. Knowing that she was upset, and that I couldn’t do anything about it, made my chest tight. At least I knew she was safe.

I tried not to take too long getting ready for bed, just in case Y/N still needed to do the same. She hadn’t moved from her spot as I walked out of the bathroom and back towards the door. I was trying to work up the courage to tell her I loved her before I left, but my mouth didn’t want to form the words.

“Ty?”

I almost let out an actual sigh of relief at hearing her use my nickname.

“Yeah?” I asked, turning to face her.

“Did you, um, did you want to stay in here tonight? Because of your… you know.”

_Nightmares_. I hadn’t even thought about dealing with those without Y/N’s help.

“Do I get my side of the bed?” I joked, hoping to lighten the mood. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see Y/N’s face to know if she had cracked a smile or not.

“Yeah.”

Y/N - or rather, the pile of blankets on top of Y/N - started to shift back towards her side of the bed. I waited until she got comfortable to join her under the covers and adjust my pillow back to where I usually kept it. Neither of us really said much as it happened.

“Did you want to keep reading?” I asked.

“It’s fine. I should be getting some sleep anyway.”

“Ok, I’ll turn the light off then.”

I reached out and shut the lamp off. Darkness covered the room so that I could no longer see the shirt I had tossed on the ground the night before a few feet away. Y/N shifted again.

“Goodnight, Tyler.”

The nickname was gone.

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

My mind seemed to be going a mile a minute as it geared up to say just a few more words. For as long as I had been dating Y/N, we had never gone to bed without telling the other we loved them, and I wasn’t about to end that streak now. I just had to prepare myself for the possibility of not hearing it in return.

“I love you.”

The words were so quiet that I wasn’t even sure Y/N heard them. I waited with held breath for an answer, though with each passing second I became less sure that it was going to happen. Just as I was about to give up and close my eyes, there was a quiet reply.

“I love you too.”


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Angst
> 
> Word Count: 1982
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one! :)

You woke up before Tyler the next morning. He had flipped onto his stomach sometime during the middle of the night so his face was now pressed up into the pillow, smushing his cheek up. One of his arms was outstretched, so that his fingers were just barely brushing against your forearm. You took a moment to admire him resting until a pang of sadness shot through your chest. Although you two had slept in the same bed the night before, you knew that the issues between you two were far from resolved.

You quietly got out of bed and crept towards the door, not wanting to wake Tyler. Your plan was to make a nice breakfast for the two of you as a sort of peace offering and then the two of you could talk things out while you ate. After spending some time thinking about the entire situation yesterday, you finally felt like your head was clearer and you could say the things you needed to say, as well as apologize for the expectations you had placed on him.

You turned the radio on to a low volume before you started to gather ingredients to make some french toast for you and Tyler. The familiar feeling of loneliness was beginning to creep in, but you reminded yourself that Tyler was only upstairs asleep, not out at meetings for the millionth time that week. He had gone to bed at a reasonable time last night, so it wouldn’t be long before he joined you downstairs. If you were lucky, he might even be up before you finished cooking.

Tyler did eventually wake up and come downstairs, right as you were cooking the last few pieces of french toast. His hair was still a ruffled mess from sleeping, but he had taken the time to throw on a t-shirt over his sweatpants. It was loose enough that you could just see his chest tattoo peeking out above the collar. He rubbed at his eyes as he shuffled over and took a seat in one of the stools.

“Good morning.”

“Morning,” he mumbled. His voice was still hoarse from sleep.

“How did you sleep?”

“No nightmares.”

“That’s good.”

Tyler nodded slowly.

“Um, so I was thinking that we could talk through everything that happened yesterday while we eat breakfast,” you said, nervously pushing the piece of french toast around the pan. “There’s a lot of things that I need to say.”

“Me too.”

A chill ran down your spine, nearly making you shiver. Your mind was already preparing you for the worst.

“You can start serving yourself. I’ll join you at the table in a second.”

Tyler stood up and grabbed two plates from the cabinet, leaving one to the side for you. He piled his plate up with french toast and fruit, grabbed a Red Bull from the fridge, and walked off to the dining room. You cooked the rest of the french toast as quickly as you could, eager to have a conversation with him so that you could soothe some of your anxieties. Or at least, that’s what you hoped would happen.

The only thing Tyler had done by the time you joined him at the table was popped open his Red Bull and taken a couple sips. You had tried on multiple occasions to get him to stop drinking energy drinks with breakfast, but he was insistent that it was no different than having coffee. It was a losing battle.

“Where do you want to start?” Tyler asked. You barely even had time to pick up your fork.

“Um, well, I guess I want to start by apologizing for the things that I said yesterday. You were right, I was being selfish and I shouldn’t have implied that you don’t care about me, because I know that you do. It had just been a long day and I was frustrated and I said a lot of things that I didn’t mean.”

You sat frozen in place, waiting for whatever Tyler was going to say. This was the moment that you had been dreading.

“I’m sorry too. I got defensive instead of listening to what you had to say and that wasn’t fair to do. It’s not my place to tell you that what you’re feeling is wrong just because it’s hard for me to hear.”

You almost started crying because you were so relieved to hear that Tyler was sorry too. The night before, you had managed to convince yourself that this was finally the end of your relationship. It was by far one of the hardest nights of your life, especially since you didn’t have Tyler there to comfort you.

“I just hope you know that I do recognize how hard you are trying to make time for me and I need to be more appreciative of that. You’re dealing with a lot right now and while I try to be as supportive as I can, I know I fall short sometimes.”

Tyler nodded, “I do think that’s something that you could work on, but I also think that I need to work on spending time with you and not talking about the band the entire time, either. And I could definitely be better about multitasking when I am working. I have a bad habit of getting too focused on what I’m doing.”

“I agree.”

Tyler smiled and reached an arm out across the table. You placed your hand in his and squeezed.

“Also, I want to apologize for saying I wish things were like when we were 21 again. Yes, I do miss those days when we were kids sometimes, but we aren’t kids anymore. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in that and I forget to appreciate all the things that we get to do together now as adults. I’m so proud of you and everything you’ve done, Ty, and I’m incredibly happy with the place that we’re at now, not where we were five years ago.”

“Me too.”

“So are we ok?”

“Yes, and I think we both have some things that we plan to work on,” Tyler said.

“Definitely,” you nodded. “I still feel really bad about how I acted.”

“You don’t need to, Y/N. We were both tired and frustrated and acted out of emotion, but we’ve talked through it and figured out what to do from here on out.”

“I just…” It was hard to talk around the lump forming in your throat. “I’m terrified of losing you.”

Your breaths started to get shaky and uneven as you fought back tears. Tyler took notice of this and immediately stood up so that he could join you on the other side of the table. He pulled over a chair so that he could sit and pull you into his chest. The contact helped your body relax a little.

“You’re not going to lose me,” he said. “Especially not just because of one argument. You mean the world to me, Y/N, and I’m not going to give you up that easily. We get in fights sometimes, that’s just how life goes, but it never changes how I feel about you.”

“Promise?” you mumbled into his shoulder.

Tyler gently pushed you away. You were hurt at first, until you realized he was holding his pinky out towards you. A smile slowly spread across your face as you linked your pinky with his.

“I promise.”

He leaned forward and gently kissed you. The worry quickly began to melt away as you realized that nothing between you and Tyler had changed.

“A double promise,” you smiled.

“Exactly,” he said, matching your smile. “I love you, Y/N. I mean it.”

“I love you too.”

Tyler gently wiped away a tear that had slipped down your cheek with his thumb.

“Are you feeling ok?”

You nodded, “I’m ok now.”

“Good.”

Tyler gave you another quick kiss before getting up and sitting back down in his original spot at the table. Most of his food had still yet to be eaten because of the discussion you two had. Maybe having a serious conversation during a meal hadn’t been your best idea.

“This is really yummy,” Tyler said as he cut off another bite-sized piece of food. “Thank you for making breakfast.”

“Your welcome,” you smiled. “It’s my grandma’s recipe, my mom used to make it for Carter and I all the time when we were kids. I would make it more often, but we’re usually so busy that it’s not worth the time and effort to make.”

“Maybe that’s something we should make more time for too: having a proper breakfast,” he laughed.

“That’s probably not such a bad idea. It’s better than you having Red Bull and cereal every morning, at least.”

“Hey, Red Bull and cereal is a delicious tour breakfast.”

“Maybe when you were 23! I swear your diet hasn’t changed since we were in high school.”

“Why should it? It worked for me then and it works for me now.”

You shook your head, knowing this was a losing battle. “Ok, Ty.”

“Oh, hey, speaking of tour.”

“Yeah?”

“I just wanted to give you the rundown for this next week before we leave.”

“Ok.”

In the midst of everything that had been happening over the last week, you had almost forgotten that there was only a week left until it would be starting again. Thankfully, this time you would be able to join him now that Carter and Marenna’s wedding was over and your schedule was cleared up. You were looking forward to it.

“I have a few things that I need to finish up either tonight or tomorrow, then there’s a meeting on Monday. It’s supposed to be the last one, but I have a feeling they’ll end up scheduling one final one on Tuesday. They gave us Wednesday off, which will probably end up being our packing day. Poor Josh has to fly home Tuesday night and then come back the next day so that he can pack up his stuff. Then, of course, Thursday and Friday are rehearsals in the morning and Saturday is our last free day,” Tyler smiled before popping another piece of french toast into his mouth. “Oh, and I managed to get all of our siblings, and their spouses, together for a last dinner together on Friday before we leave.”

“You did?” you asked. Leaving your family behind had always been one of the hardest parts of tour for you and Tyler.

“Yep. We have a reservation at that one restaurant we really like.”

“That’s amazing. Thank you, Ty.”

“Of course.”

He dramatically blew you a kiss from across the table, making you laugh.

“Also, do you think you would be able to give me a haircut on Monday after my meeting?” he smiled sweetly.

“Yeah, we can do that. It’s getting pretty long.”

“I know, look at it curling on the ends.” He picked up a small section of his hair and then let it fall back down.

“You’re not going to shave it all off, are you?”

“Not yet. Probably later in the tour.”

You sighed, but decided not to fight him on it. It was another battle that you could just never seem to win.

“Let’s try and make the most of this last week before tour, what do you say?” he asked.

“I say I’m in.”

The two of you fist bumped and then sat back in your chairs. You couldn’t help the smile on your face as you thought about the adorable idiot that you had grown to love. It was a huge relief to know that nothing had changed between the two of you, despite your argument. At this point, it didn’t seem like there was anything that could come between the two of you.

You hoped that never changed.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 2041
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this one! :)

“Thank you so much,” I smiled as I grabbed the bag of food from the counter.

“Have a nice day.”

“You too!”

I pulled my hood up over my head as I pushed the door open with my hip. A rainstorm had blown in over the weekend and for the last few days there had been constant showers of rain. My Vans were practically soaked through by the time that I made it across the parking lot to my car. I quickly set the food down in the passenger seat, next to the flowers that I had picked up from the grocery store, and stuck the key in the ignition. The drive to our house from here wasn’t exactly short and I didn’t want to let the food get too cold.

The rain was still coming down in sheets as I arrived home about twenty minutes later. Thankfully, I was able to park in the garage and avoid trying to get everything inside without getting it soaked. Getting the flowers out of the store and into the car without completely destroying them had already been enough of a task.

“Ty?” Y/N called as I closed the door to the garage.

“It’s me!” I answered.

I was so focused on double checking that all of the flowers were still in tact that I barely noticed Y/N coming down the hallway towards me. Thankfully, she was actually paying attention and managed to get out of the way before I totally ran into her. It was only once I passed her that I realized she was there.

“Oh, hi,” I smiled. “I got these for you.”

Y/N smiled as I handed the flowers and thai food to her.

“Is this from the place by your old apartment?” she asked, peering into the bag. “Isn’t that out of the way for you?”

“Only an extra five minutes or so, but it’s not a huge deal. It’s worth it because I know you love their thai food and we don’t get to have it as often anymore.”

“Thank you, Ty.”

She gave me a quick kiss before walking off down the hall towards the kitchen. I followed close behind, still carrying various documents and things in my arms. There were only a few final things that I needed to finish before the last meeting tomorrow, and then everything would finally be good to go. It was a huge weight off my shoulders.

While Y/N started to pile food onto plates and grab silverware, I set all of my stuff down on the table and began to arrange it so that it would be quicker to get through later. Now that it was the last week before tour, time was of the essence and I was going to take any free time that I could get.

“Do you want a Red Bull with dinner?” Y/N asked from the other room.

“I’ll just have water tonight.”

“You feeling ok, Ty?” she laughed.

“Yeah, I was just thinking about what you said the other night. I don’t think I need to have Red Bull with every meal anymore.”

She walked into the room carrying two plates of food and set them at the end of the table, out of the way of all of my folders. Before she had a chance to, I stepped back into the kitchen and grabbed the drinks that she had prepared for each of us: water for me and a vanilla Coke for her.

“Thank you,” she smiled as she sat down in her chair. “For all of this.”

I gave her a quick kiss before sitting down across from her. “Anything for you.”

* * *

“Definitely the red beanie and black shirt,” Y/N nodded, taking another look between the two mockups. “I like the pop of color when you have the all black outfit and you don’t really get that with the red shirt.”

“Yeah, I think that’s what I was leaning towards too. Plus, it’s a nice contrast to the suits at the beginning of the show.”

“Did you sign off on those?” Y/N asked, her eyes going wide.

“I never showed you, did I?”

“I don’t think so.”

I grabbed my phone off the table and opened the photos app. Josh and I had gone to a fitting late last week to make the final alterations on the suits, which I had evidently forgotten to show Y/N. Once I found the correct picture, I passed my phone to her.

“Oh my god,” she said, her jaw dropping. “Oh my _god_.”

“You like it?”

“Tyler! You look _hot_.”

I could feel my face turning bright pink. Y/N started to smile when she noticed.

“Don’t be embarrassed! This is a really good look on you, Ty. The color and everything is amazing.”

“For real?”

“For real.”

She passed my phone back to me, kissing me as she did so. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into my side.

“So, after seeing that, still red beanie and black shirt?”

“Definitely. It will go well with the black paint.”

“Good point. Ok, I think that was everything I had to do,” I said. “Thank you for helping me out, things went a lot faster with you here.”

“Of course, I was happy to help. From the looks of it, this is going to be a really good tour.”

“I hope so.”

“Alright, why don’t you finish signing off on stuff and I’ll get everything ready to cut your hair.”

“Oh right,” I nodded. “We’re doing that tonight.”

“Unless you don’t want to?”

“No, that’s good, I just forgot is all.”

“Ok. Good luck.”

Y/N gave me one more kiss on the cheek before walking out of the room. I took a seat at the table and began to sign all the necessary papers, making sure to check them all for errors. Meanwhile, I could hear Y/N going up and down the stairs as she got the necessary things to give me a haircut. We always did it in the living room so that we could watch TV together.

“I’m ready whenever you are, Ty!” she called.

“Ok, I’m almost done! Just a few more papers.”

I quickly finished them up and tucked them away into the proper folders. If everything went to plan, there wouldn’t be any more forms for me to sign until the next tour. Once everything was arranged and cleaned up, I got up and walked into the living room to join Y/N.

“Alright, I’m r- what are you watching?”

On the TV was an old video of Josh and I circa 2011. I recognized it instantly, it was from one of the first big interviews that we had done as a band. My nerves had been running high that morning and, naturally, I had called Y/N to try and calm down a bit.

“Just some old interviews,” she smiled. “I thought it would be fun to watch while we cut your hair.”

“I like that idea.”

The video continued to play as I sat down in the chair and Y/N began to brush through my hair. I pulled the towel that she grabbed for me around my shoulders.

“Why did you let me wear that out of the house?” I asked, noticing the old choir shirt I was wearing. “Why wasn’t I wearing a nice button up shirt or something? And the white pants!”

“It’s not my job to tell you what to wear,” she said as she plugged in the clippers.

“Ok, fair enough, but you could have at least given me a push in the right direction. Josh looks decent, at least, but I look like a mess!”

“You look fine, Ty. And I’m about to shave the sides down, so don’t move.”

The mechanical whir of the clippers started up, masking some of the sound from the TV. I was appreciative of that, though I would never say it out loud. Hearing the way that I used to talk in old interviews had never really been a fun experience for me.

“Here, take a look at your hair,” Y/N said, passing me a mirror. “Is that a good length?”

I turned my head so that I could see better. “Yeah, that’s great.”

“Ok, I figured you didn’t want a super close shave since you’re keeping the top longer.”

“You’re right. Thanks for doing this, by the way.”

“Of course. I know if I didn’t, then the job would just end up going to your mom, anyway,” she laughed.

“You two are the only people that understand how I like my hair cut.”

“I know we are, love.”

The video we were watching faded out and came to an end. I started to reach for the remote, but before I had a chance to grab it another one started playing. This one was from much later, I could tell because Josh’s hair had changed from its natural dark color to bright purple. As soon as it popped up, I knew exactly which interview it was.

“Look at you! You’re wearing a nice sweatshirt in this one,” Y/N said.

“Much better than a stupid choir shirt.”

“Shh, you looked nice, Ty.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

“Did not.”

“ _Tyler_.”

“Wait, quiet, this is my favorite part.”

It was much easier to hear now that Y/N had started cutting the top of my hair with scissors instead of the clippers. I leaned forward, still eager to hear every word that was said. This was the one interview that I would still occasionally watch from time to time, it never failed to put a smile on my face.

“So, Tyler, just the other day you made a very special announcement on Twitter,” the interviewer said. There was already a knowing smile on my face in the interview. “Do you care to comment on that?”

Y/N stopped cutting my hair and turned to watch the screen.

“I do,” I nodded. “I just recently announced that I am dating my wonderful girlfriend, Y/N. It’s been going on for awhile, but we decided that it was finally time that we made it public. She really is the most wonderful person in the world and I’m so lucky to have someone like her in my life. I want the world to be able to see even a fraction of the light that she brings into my life.”

“I didn’t realize that it was this interview,” Y/N smiled. “I really like this interview.”

“It was the first time that I officially talked about you in an interview.”

“And now you won’t stop,” she giggled.

“What can I say? I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Y/N started to cut my hair again, but I couldn’t stop sitting there and smiling like an idiot. Everything that I had said about her then was still true, if not even more so than before. I could talk about her for hours if given the chance, although that wasn’t really the point of the interviews. There were just so many things about her to love.

“Alright, Ty, I think your hair is done.”

“Let’s go look.”

I grabbed Y/N’s hand and practically pulled her up the stairs to our bathroom, which had the best mirror in the house. She stood off to the side while I flipped on the lights and got the first good look at my hair.

“It looks perfect,” I said, examining it from all angles. She had taken all the excess length off without making it too short. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“I’ve been giving you the same haircut for five years, you get pretty good at it after awhile.”

“Thank you. That’s one less thing on our tour checklist.”

Y/N and I high fived before I pulled her in for a hug. She laughed quietly into my shoulder as I rocked us back and forth.

“I’m looking forward to tour with you, Ty.”

“I am too,” I smiled. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

There was just something else I had to get out of the way first.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 1955
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

**_Carter:_ ** _Be there in about five minutes_

You smiled as the text popped up on your phone. Despite the busy week that you and Carter both had, the two of you had finally found some free time for him to come over and visit while Tyler was out at his final meeting. This, of course, also meant that he was bringing your nephew along, not that you were complaining. You looked forward to any time that you spent with Max.

Now that you knew Carter was close, you got off the couch and started to straighten out a few things that you noticed were out of place, even though you knew it would be a mess again as soon as Max arrived. As much as you loved him, he did have a habit of throwing things around at the moment.

Carter arrived almost exactly five minutes after he had sent his text, carrying Max in one arm and a bag of things in the other. Max immediately lunged at you when you opened the door, throwing Carter off balance and nearly making him run into the door frame. You quickly scooped Max into your arms, which was a relief to Carter.

“Thank you, he’s been high energy all morning. He woke Marenna and I up at six this morning to demand breakfast.”

“Oh geez, how much sleep did you get then?” you asked as you closed the door behind him.

“Five hours, if that. I just couldn’t fall asleep last night, I don’t know what it was.”

“It’s been getting warm lately, I think. I’ve had some sleep troubles too.”

Carter nodded, “That makes sense.”

He set his bag down next to the couch and immediately fell back into the cushions. His eyes fluttered closed when he was comfortable, and for a moment you thought he was going to take a nap on the spot.

“Auntie,” Max said, patting your shoulder to grab your attention. “Toys.”

“You want to grab some toys from the closet?”

He nodded, so you carried him down the hallway towards the toy closet. Once you got close, he began to wiggle in your arms. You waited until the door was open before you set him down.

“What do you think, Max?”

This time, his first choice was a set of colorful building blocks. You grabbed them off the shelf and carried them back to the living room for him since they were a bit heavy for his little arms to handle. Carter was still sitting with his eyes closed, but his peace and quiet was quickly interrupted.

“Dadda!” Max said, running over and smacking his hands down on Carter’s legs. His eyes shot open. “Toys!”

“Did Auntie Y/N get some toys for you?” he asked.

Max nodded proudly and grabbed Carter’s hand, pulling him off the couch. Carter sighed and followed after him, taking a seat on the ground. You decided to join them.

“I haven’t really had a chance to ask yet because of this little one,” Carter said, ruffling Max’s hair. Max playfully pushed his hand away. “How have you been?”

“It’s been… a week, to say the least,” you nodded. Because of Carter’s busy schedule, you hadn’t had a chance to talk to him about the huge fight you had with Tyler yet.

“Did something happen?”

“You could say that.”

Carter looked at you, his eyebrows furrowed. You began to chew on your lower lip; thinking about the fight was still a sore spot for you, even if things had gotten better. Still, you knew Carter would provide some reassurance about the entire situation.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“You always know,” you laughed. “But it can wait, I want to hear more about you.”

Carter reached out and helped Max put another block on top of the tower, which made him smile.

“What is there to say? I’ve just been working and taking care of this little dude.”

“Oh, come on. There must be _something_ exciting going on with you lately.”

“Well, there has been talk of me getting a promotion sometime soon. The pay raise would be really helpful, plus my hours would be a little more flexible than they are now.”

“Car!” you said. “That’s great! You deserve a promotion.”

“Thanks, Y/N,” he smiled.

“Maybe you’ll get some more days off so we can actually see one another on a regular basis when I’m home. It’s so hard to coordinate now.”

“I know, I wish we could make it over here more often. The drive is just so long.”

Max placed one more block on top of his tower before shoving it over, laughing as it toppled onto the ground. You and Carter helped him collect the pieces so that he could start all over again.

“I know, sometimes I wish we still lived in the middle of the city, but it’s hard now that Tyler is getting more recognizable. And he really likes being out here by the woods; it helps him write, I think.”

“I understand,” Carter nodded. “Speaking of him, how has he been? I don’t think I’ve seen him since the wedding.”

“He’s doing ok. The stress of figuring the tour out was really getting to him for awhile, but I think it’s finally starting to wind down again now that everything is kicking off soon. He finished up the last bit of paperwork last night and now they’re pretty much good to go, aside from rehearsals.”

“That’s good, I’m glad. I know he works really hard to make his shows the best that they can be, which always pays off, but it’s nice to hear he’s taking care of himself too. I can guarantee you’re making sure of it.”

“I always am,” you laughed as Carter gave you a playful punch in the shoulder.

“Auntie!” Max said, throwing his hands into the air. “Look!”

You looked at the small tower that Max had created, which was just a tiny bit shorter than him. He smiled as you looked it over, making sure to exaggerate your nods.

“This looks very nice, Max. I think you did a wonderful job.”

Max turned to Carter with an excited expression on his face, which made you smile. Shortly after, he knocked over his tower yet again. Carter shook his head as he collected all the blocks.

“You know, Mom said that Max acts just like you did as a child.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure she said I was worse,” he laughed.

“I’m sure you were.”

After some more time playing with blocks and catching one another up on your lives over the last week, the three of you decided it was about time that you made yourselves some lunch. You and Carter started to talk about some places you could order from, until Max chimed in insisting that he wanted chicken nuggets. Carter seemed to also be on board with the idea, so you started up the oven and laid out some chicken nuggets on a baking sheet.

“Alright, I want to hear more about this week you had,” Carter said as he sat down on a stool. Max was in his arms, happily playing with a block.

“Do you really?” you asked as you grabbed some drinks from the fridge.

“Of course I do. Just because I don’t see you every day doesn’t mean that I care about you any less than I did before.”

You smiled as you popped open your soda, but it quickly faded again.

“Ok, well, do you remember how I was talking to you and Marenna about Tyler being gone all the time?”

“Yeah.”

“So, I brought it up with him the other night after he got home, but the problem is that I didn’t do it very… tactfully and it ended up leading to this huge fight and we barely talked for the rest of the night.”

“Y/N…” Carter frowned.

“That’s why I didn’t answer your call that night, I was too busy crying in bed,” you laughed quietly, hoping it would lighten the mood. “We ended up working it out the next morning and we’ve both been making more effort with one another. Tyler brought me flowers and food the other night and made sure not to work too late, but while he was working I stood with him and helped him pick stuff out.”

“You’re creating a more equal balance.”

“Exactly. I feel a lot better already, and now we’re just focusing on getting everything ready for tour. Tomorrow is the big packing day.”

“Your favorite,” Carter laughed.

“It just takes so long! It’s like packing for a nice vacation except the vacation is three months and you also have to bring your entire life with you.”

“Are you really going to be gone for three months?”

“Yeah, but we’ll still be in the US so communication won’t, or at least shouldn’t, be a big deal. I’m going to miss you guys.”

“We’re going to miss you too. Columbus isn’t quite the same without you.”

“Aww, Car,” you smiled. “I didn’t know you were capable of being nice.”

“Hey!” he laughed. “I’m nice to you all the time.”

“Sure you are.”

The oven started to beep, interrupting your back and forth. You grabbed an oven mitt from the drawer and carefully pulled out the tray of perfectly golden brown nuggets. With a smile, you turned around to show Carter.

“See? _That’s_ how you make nuggets.”

“I burned them one time! One! And you’ll never let me live it down.”

“They were crispy and black! Do you know how hard that is to do?”

“I don’t think I’m the one that’s incapable of being nice,” he said.

“I can keep these chicken nuggets to myself, if you want.”

“Nuggets!” Max frowned.

“Ok, I can keep these chicken nuggets for myself _and Max_ , if you want,” you repeated.

“You’re proving my point, Y/N.”

“Alright, fine, chicken nuggets for everyone,” you said, piling all of them onto a plate.

“Juice!” Max demanded.

“You want some juice?” Carter asked.

“Juice,” Max repeated, calmer this time.

Carter adjusted Max in his arms and then stood up to grab a juice from the other room. You leaned against the counter, grabbing a chicken nugget for yourself. It had been awhile since the last time you had chicken nuggets, although you knew you would start to again once you were on tour. It was one of the easier things to make on the bus.

“We’ve got the juice,” Carter sighed as he walked back into the room. In his arms, Max was happily sipping on a juice box.

“I swear I’ve never seen a kid consume so much juice,” you said. “He has like three or four of those a day.”

“We’re constantly buying it. Marenna told me that one time one of the employees commented on her coming in twice in the same week to buy more juice and she had to explain to him that our kid just doesn’t stop drinking it.”

“There are worse things that he could be drinking.”

“You’re right.”

“Nuggie!” Max smiled.

Carter reached out and grabbed a nugget for Max. He took a huge chomp out of it, dramatic sound effects included, and smiled.

“Thanks for taking the time to come out here today, Car,” you said. “It was much needed.”

“I’m always going to be here for you, Y/N, even when you’re thousands of miles away.”

“Really?”

He smiled at you, “Really.”

A smile overtook your face as you took a sip of your drink. For the first time in awhile, you finally felt like things were coming together.

And you couldn’t be happier about it.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 2102
> 
> Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

“Where do we even start?” Y/N asked.

We were standing just inside our shared closet, looking at all the clothes that were hanging up. Today was the day that we had set aside for packing the majority of our things up for tour, which always started with our clothes since they took the most space in our suitcases. It also just so happened to be the most daunting part.

“Well, we have the lists,” I said, holding them up for emphasis. “Should we just find all the stuff we need, pile it up, and then fold?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Let’s start with your stuff.”

“Ok.”

Y/N took the lists from me and sat down just outside the closet. I stepped further in and started to look through my clothes, already deciding what I wanted to bring and what I should leave behind. Y/N started to read off items on the list, which I grabbed and then tossed to her.

“Hey, careful!”

I turned to look at her, only to realize the tank top I had just grabbed had ended up hanging off of her head. She was laughing as she pulled it off of her head and added it to the ever growing pile behind her.

“Sorry,” I smiled. “Wasn’t looking.”

“It’s ok.”

This pattern went on until we had finally collected all the things on my list. The pile of clothes behind Y/N went up to my knees, already making me dread having to fold it later. Still, I knew it would be nothing compared to what Y/N ended up bringing since she didn’t have the same habit of wearing clothes for days straight like I did.

“Let’s get this stuff into the bedroom,” Y/N said, starting to get off the ground. I quickly walked over to her and helped her up. “Thanks.”

Together, the two of us began to carry small armfuls of clothes over to my side of the bed. The pile quickly grew again until all of my clothes were sitting on the ground. I immediately collapsed onto the bed after dropping the last few pants off.

“Ty,” Y/N smiled. “What are you doing?”

“Taking a break.”

“We don’t have time for breaks. It’s already noon and we haven’t even picked out my clothes yet. At this rate, we’re not going to be done until midnight.”

“Please,” I said, sticking out my bottom lip. “Can we just relax for five minutes?”

“Fine, but that’s it,” she said, taking a seat on the bed next to me before falling back into my arms.

“I’ll count.”

“No you won’t,” she laughed. “I’m setting a timer, otherwise we’ll be here for hours and you’ll still claim we have a minute left.”

“I will not,” I mumbled into her neck.

“Yes you will.”

“Isn’t this relaxing?”

“Yes, but _somebody_ has another world tour starting in less than a week that we need to get ready for.”

“I’ll postpone it.”

“Ty,” she laughed. “That isn’t an option.”

“Sure it is. I’m famous.”

“I’m not going to let you postpone a world tour just because you want to cuddle with me.”

“Please?”

“No!”

“At least I tried.”

We made quiet conversation for the rest of the five minutes. When the timer finally went off, Y/N practically had to drag me off the bed and back into the closet.

“Come on, Ty, you don’t even have to do the hard stuff right now. All you have to do is sit and read words off a list.”

“That _is_ hard.”

“Why are you so whiny today?” she laughed as she started to look through a drawer. I smiled to myself as I sat down and leaned against the wall.

“Today is the first free day that I’ve had in almost two weeks and we have to spend it packing. That’s why I’m so whiny.”

“Hey, at least we get to spend time together. It’s better than you being out at meetings all day.”

“Ok, point taken.”

“We don’t have any award shows this time around, do we? I want to make sure I pack something nice if we do.”

“I don’t think so. If we do, you can just wear a nice sweatshirt or something.”

“No, _you_ can wear a nice sweatshirt because you’re Tyler Joseph,” she said as she pulled down a couple tops. “ _I_ have to wear something nice because I’m just Y/F/N Y/L/N.”

“ _Just_ Y/F/N Y/L/N?”

“Yeah?”

“You mean the most stunning, hilarious, loving, supportive, and amazing girl in the entire world?”

“Shut up,” she giggled.

“I mean, look at you! You’re beautiful.”

My compliment was answered with Y/N balling up a t-shirt and tossing it at me. I ducked out of the way, laughing the entire time.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to throw clothing at one another’s heads?”

“There’s an exception when they’re being a dork,” she smiled.

“Oh, of course. How did I never realize before?”

“Can you just tell me what else I need?”

I read off the next few things on the list, which Y/N quickly found and picked out, occasionally asking for my opinion on what she should bring. By the time that we had made it through the entire page, there was a second enormous pile of clothing sitting behind me, just slightly bigger than my pile had been. Once again, we started to carry clothes out to the bedroom, this time putting them on Y/N’s side of the bed.

“Alright, we need to grab our suitcases from downstairs,” Y/N said.

“Race you?” I grinned.

Y/N’s mouth quickly grew into a smile. Before she had a chance to answer, I yelled out “3, 2, 1, go!” and we were both taking off down the stairs, trying to be the first one to make it to the guest bedroom. I jumped over the last couple steps, landing with a thud, which gained me just enough of a lead to slide into the room before her. She immediately collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily.

“I shouldn’t have agreed to that,” she sighed. “I just can’t seem to win any races against you.”

“It’s alright,” I said, holding a hand out to her to help her up. “I still love you.”

I gave her a quick kiss before opening the closet. All of our suitcases were lined up along the top, each in varying sizes and shapes for the various tours that we went on. Thankfully, this was only a North American leg of the tour, meaning we could afford to pack a little heavy since we wouldn’t be doing any flying. Y/N stood next to me as I pulled down a couple of the bigger suitcases that we had.

“Do you think these will be big enough?” she asked. “We had a lot of clothes.”

“Yeah, they should be fine as long as we pack tight enough. I used this one for Australia and it wasn’t a big deal.”

“That was only a month though.”

“Do you really think we need the huge ones?”

Y/N pursed her lips, thinking it over for a moment.

“I guess not. Worst case scenario, we stick the folded clothes into a new suitcase.”

“Alright, let’s get these upstairs.”

Y/N and I each grabbed our respective suitcases and carefully carried them up the stairs, being sure not to bump them into the walls. There were a couple marks downstairs already from times that one of us had been paying not quite enough attention to where we were going.

Once my suitcase was unzipped and ready to go, I started to sort through my pile of clothes, separating things by tops and bottoms and whether or not I wore it during the show. Y/N, on the other hand, was already starting to fold up her things and put them into her bag as she went.

“Are you going to be able to find anything in your suitcase?” I laughed.

“Probably not, but isn’t that half the fun of getting dressed on tour?”

“Not when you’re frantically trying to find the shirt that you need to wear on stage ten minutes before you’re supposed to be in the right place.”

“Don’t you usually double check all of that stuff way before the show starts?”

“We’re supposed to, but I just forgot that day. Of course that was also the day that my white tank top suddenly went missing.”

“Oh right, I remember you texting me about that,” Y/N smiled. “Carter got mad because my phone wouldn’t stop vibrating while we were trying to play video games.”

“I was panicking!”

“I know you were, love.”

I shook my head as I tossed another shirt into my non-show shirt pile, which was steadily growing.

“Oh! You know what I forgot?” Y/N said.

“What?”

“A sleep shirt. Do you mind if I grab one of the ones you aren’t bringing?”

“Go for it.”

Y/N walked into the bathroom and came back a short time later with a shirt in her hand.

“Which one did you grab?”

She held it up for me to see. On it were the words “Worthington Christian High School Basketball”, printed in bold, colorful lettering across the front. It was a shirt that I hadn’t worn - or even seen - in years.

“Where did you find that?” I laughed.

“It was in your t-shirt drawer! I stumbled across it when I was folding your shirts the other day. Do you not remember wearing it all the time in high school?”

“I guess not.”

“I swear you wore it at least once a week.”

“Of course I did.”

Y/N tossed it onto her pile of clothes and went back to folding. Shortly after, I finished sorting everything and stood up so that I could start to fold and actually put things into my suitcase.

We made conversation as we continued to pack, mostly talking about things we wanted to do on tour and things we wanted to see in various states when we had some free time. It felt weird to think about leaving again so soon, but I was reassured by the fact that Y/N would be right there next to me this time. I didn’t get nearly as homesick when she was with me.

As we started to near the end of our packing, my mind started to bounce around with a question that I had been meaning to ask Y/N for a few days. My original plan had been to ask her last week, but after our argument, it went forgotten for awhile.

“Hey, so I’ve been thinking,” I started, reaching up to rub at my neck, “what if we went out on a nice date after my rehearsal tomorrow? It’s been awhile since we actually went out and did something like that.”

Y/N finished folding the shirt in front of her and paused, her eyebrows every so slightly furrowed. I rocked back and forth on my heels, waiting for an answer.

“I mean, obviously I want to, but aren’t you concerned about fans coming up and interrupting us? I mean, we can’t even go to the grocery store without someone asking for a picture, much less out on the town in the middle of Columbus. I always assumed that’s why we had dates here.”

“We don’t necessarily have to go out in Columbus. I just thought we could go do something fun. Maybe even something we used to do a lot like, you know…” My mind was racing trying to think of a good idea. “Stargazing, or something.”

Genius.

“Stargazing,” Y/N repeated. Her mouth was slowly curling up into a smile. “I think that would be a really good idea. The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow too, so it will be perfect.”

“Then it’s a date.”

“Do I really have to wear something nice to sit in the back of a car though?”

“No, the most important thing is that I’m spending time with you.”

“Cheesy,” she laughed.

“It’s how I feel.”

“I know.”

I tried to hide the smile on my face as I tucked another pair of pants into my suitcase. My hands were already shaking with excitement at the thought of going stargazing with Y/N. It had been a long time since we had gone up there, mostly because of bad weather or not being home, and I was looking forward to it.

It was going to be perfect.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 1982
> 
> Author’s Note: I have a feeling all of you are going to enjoy this chapter :)

"Alright, we're good," Tyler said as he shut the car off. He had spent the last ten minutes painstakingly reversing into spots until you found the one with the best view, which was all part of Tyler's plan to have the perfect date. You quickly unbuckled your seatbelt and started to gather up your things from the backseat. The two of you had borrowed Carter's old truck from your parents, just to make sure you had the best stargazing experience.

"Did you grab the speaker?" you asked as you bumped the door closed with your hip.

"No, I'll do that in a second," Tyler mumbled over the mountain of blankets in his arms.

You tossed the blankets you were carrying into the bed of the truck and then climbed in after them. Tyler added a few more to the pile before going back to grab the speaker and some pillows that you had thought to bring this time. Although blankets worked to support your head while you were staring up at the sky, it wasn't exactly the most comfortable option.

"Pillow incoming!" Tyler yelled, tossing a pillow into the bed of the truck. It bumped into your leg and fell to the ground with a quiet thud. Shortly after, the same thing happened again.

"Would you just get in here and help me set up the blankets," you laughed.

Tyler pulled himself up and practically fell over the side of the truck bed, just barely landing on top of the pile of blankets. He gave you a shy smile as he pulled off his shoes and set them on top of the hood where they wouldn't get lost. You shook your head and handed him a pillow to put where he wanted it.

"This is looking really nice so far," he said as he fluffed up his pillow.

"Thank you. Our stargazing set up is very important."

"Understandable."

Tyler grabbed another blanket and shook it out so that it was no longer a jumbled mess. You, meanwhile, set up your own pillow close to Tyler's, although it didn't really matter. There was a good chance you would just end up laying on his chest.

"Is that everything?" you asked, surveying the little bed you had made. From the looks of it, it was going to be the most comfortable stargazing experience yet.

"I just need to get some music going, then we can get comfortable."

"Then _you_ can get comfortable. I'm getting under the blanket right now."

Although summer was slowly beginning and the weather was steadily getting warmer, the hours after the sun went down still weren't quite a comfortable temperature. Your sweatshirt was just barely keeping your torso warm as you sat out in the cold.

You waited patiently under the blanket for Tyler to finally lay down. As soon as he did, you curled up next to him and wrapped an arm around his stomach, stealing as much body heat from him as you could. Your limbs quickly became a tangled mess until you were both laying comfortably and looking up at the stars.

"You were right, it is really clear tonight," Tyler said. He was idly tracing patterns on your shoulder.

"Remember that one time we spent an hour making snacks for stargazing and drove all the way out here only to realize it was cloudy?"

"Yeah, but then we got thai food and watched movies at my apartment until four in the morning, so it wasn't all bad."

"You're right."

You both went quiet for a little while as you looked up at the stars. Tyler was humming quietly along to the music that was playing, while you were trying to work out which constellations were currently in the sky. It was peaceful, although you couldn't help the existential thoughts that always crept in during these moments. You tried your best to push them away and focus on spending time with Tyler.

"Hey, did you see that?" he asked.

"See what?"

"The shooting star."

"There was a shooting star?"

"No, I made that up for fun," Tyler laughed.

"Hey! I was too busy looking at your pretty face."

"I know, it's very distracting."

You rolled your eyes, but Tyler was too busy looking up at the stars to notice. His eyes were practically shining in the moonlight.

"Did you make a wish?"

"Of course I did."

"What was it?"

Tyler turned so that he was facing you now. "If I tell you, then it won't come true."

"Please?" you pouted, sticking out your lower lip.

"The wish is too important to risk losing it."

"Fine, I can respect that."

Tyler leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to your lips. He was warm, so you caught his chin and pulled him in again when he started to pull away. His arm wrapped a little tighter around you.

"Has this been an ok date so far?" Tyler asked.

"Of course. Any time that I get to spend with you is a good date in my eyes."

He laughed softly. "I think your standards for a good date might be a little low."

"Still, we have this wonderful nest of blankets, I'm cuddled up with you looking at the stars, and we're listening to our favorite songs. I don't think it could get better than this."

"I bet it could."

"How?" you asked, turning to look at him.

"There are just... ways."

His tone was a bit confusing, but you brushed it off as nothing. Sometimes Tyler just tripped over his words. If something was really wrong, he would tell you.

You looked back up at the sky, letting your eyes wander over the various constellations and the tree branches that framed the clear area above you. Even though you had been to this same spot on countless occasions, you swore that the sky never looked the same way twice. Something about it was always a little different, making each visit special in its own way.

"Isn't it weird to think that we've been coming up here for years?" you asked.

"How did we even find it?"

"Weren't we just driving around one night and noticed a little side road? And of course our teenage brains though it was a great idea to drive up it." Tyler laughed. "Then we realized it led to a little park where you could look out over Columbus and see the stars."

"Now it's special to us."

"Exactly. Just think about all the things that have happened up here," you said. "I told you that I considered you my best friend, and you held my hand and it was never spoken of again, and we said we loved each other and kissed for the first time..."

"And now I'm asking you to marry me."

You were pretty sure you could feel your heart physically skip a beat in your chest. There was no way that you had heard him correctly. The two of you had always agreed that you were in no rush to get married, but when you turned to look at Tyler he was holding a small box in his hand.

"I love you, Y/N. I mean it. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Tyler slowly opened the box, revealing the most beautiful ring that you had ever seen. It was everything you had ever dreamed of having. You wanted to say something, anything, but all you could do was stare at him as tears welled up in your eyes. He got up so that he could properly be on one knee, which made you giggle because of the height difference.

"Y/F/N Y/L/N, will you marry me?"

You nodded quickly. Tyler gently grabbed your left hand and slid the ring onto your finger. As soon as it was on comfortably, you practically attacked Tyler with a hug, burying your face into his neck.

"I love you so much," you mumbled.

"I love you too."

You held onto Tyler until all the emotions finally subsided and you felt calmer again. Tyler pulled you into a kiss, holding you close and smiling against your lips. The two of you could only kiss for so long before you started laughing.

"We got so good at kissing without smiling and now we're back to square one," you laughed.

"I don't mind."

You kissed for a while longer before finally laying back down and getting comfortable. Tyler wrapped an arm around you, holding you close to his side.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"I already asked you to marry me, Y/N. You were too slow."

"Stop," you laughed, pressing your forehead to his shoulder. "A different question."

Tyler laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of your head. "What've you got?"

"What happened to waiting to get married? I mean, obviously I'm ecstatic that we're engaged now, but I'm curious about what made you change your mind."

"I mean, really it was just about trying to find the right time to ask you. I've known that I wanted to marry you for years, but now that the Blurryface era is coming to an end next year and this is the last big tour for awhile, I figured it was the right time to ask you. That way we can start planning in our free time and get married during the break."

"I can't wait," you smiled.

You shifted how you were sitting so that you were more easily able to look at Tyler. His eyes shifted over to you for a moment, and he began to smile when he noticed you were staring, once again averting his gaze.

"Hey," you said, gently turning his chin towards you. You could just barely make out the pink tint to his cheeks in the darkness.

"What?"

"Why are you embarrassed?"

"There's a pretty girl staring at me," he smiled.

Now it was your turn to start blushing. You dropped your forehead back down to Tyler's shoulder to hide the dorky grin that had quickly taken over your face. When the heat had finally subsided, you looked back up at him.

"You're so handsome, Ty."

You took a moment to admire him, from the way that his lips curved to the color of his eyes. He had changed so much since you first met in English class when you were fourteen, and yet at times it felt like he hadn't changed at all. In some ways, he was still the same dorky kid that you had found a best friend in.

Except now he was going to be your husband.

"How did I get lucky enough to spend my life with somebody like you?" you smiled.

"If anyone here is the lucky one, it's me."

"I think we're both lucky that Mr. Brown made us sit next to one another in English class."

"Do you think we should invite him to the wedding?" Tyler laughed.

"Can you imagine?" you joined his laughter. "Oh man, there's so many people we're going to have to invite."

"And you're going to have to pick out bridesmaids."

"And a location. And flowers. And _an outfit_."

"Hey, love, it's ok," Tyler said, resting a hand on the side of your face. He gently brushed his thumb along your cheekbone. "We'll figure it all out eventually. All we have to do right now is focus on the present."

"I like that idea."

You kissed Tyler once more and then laid back down on his shoulder with your head turned towards the stars. The proposal kept replaying itself in your head, making it impossible not to smile. Who knew all those years ago when Tyler held your hand that he would end up asking you to marry him in the same spot years later.

It was the best date you could have asked for.


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 1972
> 
> Author’s Note: First of all, I just want to say that I loved seeing everyone’s reactions to the last chapter. All of them put the biggest smile on my face :) Also, this will be the last chapter from Tyler’s point of view for the entire series. I can’t believe that it’s almost over :( Still, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

I held onto Y/N’s hand tightly as we walked up to the front of the restaurant. Through the door, I could already see most of my siblings waiting around inside, talking happily with one another. Y/N turned to me and smiled when she noticed them, squeezing my hand a little tighter. Although she hadn’t known at the time, I had planned this dinner to celebrate our engagement with our siblings, as well as get everyone together one last time before we left for three months.

“Are you nervous?” I asked, leaning in close to her.

“I don’t think nervous even scratches the surface of what I’m feeling,” she laughed quietly. “I just can’t wait to see the look on Carter’s face when he catches sight of my hand.”

“Do you think it’ll be like when he found out we were dating?”

“Worse.”

“Alright, let’s do this.”

I pulled the door open for Y/N, finally releasing her hand so that she could walk in ahead of me. Immediately, all of our family was turning to look in our direction. Y/N had already dug her hands into her pockets, keeping the ring out of sight for now.

There was a chorus of “Tyler” and “Y/N”s as we walked up to them. I started to wrap an arm around Y/N, but she was quickly pulled into a hug by her brother. My eyes flew to her hand, waiting for the second when the ring became visible. She had barely started to put her arms around Carter when Marenna reached out and caught her wrist.

“What is this?” Marenna asked, pulling Y/N’s hand closer to her face. “Is this what I think it is?”

Y/N turned to me, already smiling. I nodded and turned towards my own siblings, only to see that they were already looking at me with raised eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.

“Surprise! We’re engaged.”

The room immediately erupted into excitement, with everyone crowding around to see Y/N’s ring or pat me on the back. After talking to Y/N for awhile, Carter eventually made his way over to me. I straightened up a little bit. I had known him for nearly as long as I had known Y/N, but he still never failed to intimidate me. Even before I was dating his sister, I had always wanted to make a good impression.

“I guess I have to stop teasing her about getting married now,” he laughed.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “You still have a while until she’s officially a Joseph. There’s plenty of time to get some final jokes in.”

Carter nodded. “You know, I always wondered if you two would end up together and, I have to say, I’m really glad that you did.”

It was hard not to let a smile completely overtake my face at Carter’s compliment.

“It means a lot to hear you say that.”

He smiled, “You obviously make her very happy and that’s all I ever wanted.”

“I intend to keep doing that for the rest of my life.”

Carter clapped a hand down on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Good.”

Deciding that we had stood in the front of the restaurant for long enough, I finally walked up to the hostess. She looked up when she noticed me walking towards her and began to smile.

“I have a reservation for Joseph.”

“Party of nine?”

“That’s us.”

She quickly counted out menus and gestured over her shoulder, “Right this way.”

“Hey, guys, we’re going to sit down.”

The conversation quickly quieted down and everyone fell into their places. Y/N rejoined me at the front of the group and wrapped a hand around my arm, still smiling. I pressed a quick kiss to her cheek as we walked.

There was a bit of commotion as everyone tried to figure out where they were sitting. I eventually ended up between Zack and Y/N, who naturally had Carter on her other side. Once everyone was settled and happy with the seating arrangement, we began to look through our menus.

“What do you think you’re going to get?” Y/N asked, leaning over towards me.

“I’m not sure yet. Do you know?”

“No, that’s why I was asking you,” she laughed quietly.

The table was quiet as everyone looked over the menu and tried to decide what to get. Once that was finished, the conversation really began to pick up.

“Ok, I have to know the story,” Maddy chimed in. “How did it happen?”

“The engagement?” Y/N asked.

“Of course.”

Y/N turned to me with raised eyebrows, “Do you want to tell it or should I?”

“Why don’t you tell it and I can fill in the details?”

“Tag team it. Good plan.”

Everyone listened intently as Y/N told the story, from setting up the blankets in the back of the car to the actual proposal. I only occasionally filled in details when I felt they were needed, which wasn’t often.

“How _did_ you keep the ring hidden from me?” Y/N asked after Tatum had brought it up.

“It was an ordeal,” I laughed. “I brought it home early last week and my original plan was to keep it hidden in my t-shirt drawer, but then you mentioned how you found the old postcard in there so I decided that was a really bad idea.”

“So where was it?”

“I kept it in the center console of my car.”

“Is that why you made me drive everywhere last week?”

“Yeah,” I smiled.

“That makes so much sense.”

“Do you guys know when the wedding is going to be?” Zack chimed in.

“Josh and I are planning on taking an extended break once this tour is over to work on the next album and have some time to ourselves, so we’ll probably do it during that break.”

“Other than that, the only thing we’ve decided is that we’re getting married,” Y/N added with a laugh. “Speaking of weddings, Ren, does your comment about never wanting to plan another wedding in your life still stand?”

“I think an exception can be made,” she smiled.

“You know, we can talk about things other than the engagement and wedding,” I said.

“Oh, come on Tyler,” Maddy said. “This is exciting! Our big brother is getting married!”

“Yeah, let us be happy,” Zack said, reaching over to lightly shove my shoulder.

“Sorry! Sorry. I just want to hear about your lives too, you know.”

“We’ll get there,” Jay added.

Our conversation was only interrupted when a waiter came over to take everyone’s drink orders. After Y/N ordered, I leaned over close to her so that I could whisper in her ear.

“Are you having an ok time?”

“I’m having a great time. This was a really good idea, Ty.”

I leaned back, now with a smile on my face. It wasn’t often that we were able to get all of the siblings together, but I always looked forward to when we did. I considered myself incredibly lucky to call all the people around me family, even if we weren’t blood relatives.

“When do you guys leave for tour?” Will asked.

“Monday morning. We’re spending a day in Cincinnati before the tour officially begins to get people acquainted and all that.”

“I think Tatum and I are going to drive down for the show,” Zack said. “I don’t know if any of you are interested in coming along.”

There was some quiet murmuring around the table as people discussed whether or not they would try to make it for the show. Next to me, I noticed that Y/N was fiddling with her ring.

“You ok?” I asked quietly, reaching out to put a hand on her arm.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Just thinking about things that we need to do tonight and tomorrow.”

I lightly rubbed my thumb along her arm, “It’s ok. You don’t need to worry about that right now, just focus on spending time with family.”

“You’re right.”

She put her ring back on her finger, spinning it back into place.

“Are you excited to be touring again?” Tatum asked.

“I wish I had a longer break, but I really do love playing shows. Even with all the bumps this time around, I feel really good about the show that Josh and I are putting on and I think it represents this album well.”

“And you look sexy in your suits,” Y/N added under her breath, making me snort.

“What did you say, Y/N?” Maddy asked.

“Nothing,” she answered quickly. I could tell by the way that her lips were pressed together that she was embarrassed.

“Are you looking forward to tour, Y/N?” Zack said.

“Yeah, I am. It definitely takes some adjustment, but honestly after spending a month at home without Tyler, I’m ready to be back on a cramped tour bus again.”

“It’s not _that_ cramped.”

“That’s because you take up the whole couch and don’t share!” Y/N giggled.

“Alright, whatever.”

“We’re going to miss you guys,” Marenna said, which was met with nods from the rest of the table.

I ignored the pang of sadness in my chest and put a smile on my face, not wanting the mood at the table to take a turn. Today was supposed to be about taking advantage of the time we still had left, after all.

“We’re going to miss you guys too.”

* * *

Dinner eventually came to an end and after plenty of hugs, we all walked back to our cars with promises to keep in touch when Y/N and I were on the road. Y/N laced her fingers with mine as we walked back to where I had parked at the very edge of the lot, swinging our hands idly back and forth.

“This was really nice, Ty. Thank you for getting everyone together.”

“Your welcome. I knew it was something you would really enjoy, plus it got most of the people that we needed to announce the engagement to out of the way.”

“Now it’s just our parents, Josh, and the entirety of the clique,” she laughed.

“To be fair, Josh already knows because I slipped up about having to pick up a ring after one of our meetings. Then I got excited and just told him the whole thing.”

“It’s a good thing Josh can keep a secret.”

“Honestly. I was tense that entire night that we got dinner together.”

“Speaking of dinner, don’t forget we’re going over to Carter and Marenna’s on Sunday night to see my parents and Max one last time.”

“Right. And we have dinner with my parents tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

Y/N finally let go of my hand so that she could walk to the other side of the car. The door creaked as I opened it and climbed inside.

“Alright, let’s get home so we can finish up more tour preparations. We only have a couple days left,” Y/N said. She was already plugging in her phone so that we could listen to our music on the way home.

“These last three weeks really flew by,” I said as I started up the car. “I swear just yesterday I was napping on the couch with you after getting home from the airport.”

“A lot happened. I mean, my brother got married, you had meetings most of the time, and now we’re engaged.”

I reached over and grabbed Y/N’s hand again. She began to rub her thumb along the back of my hand, keeping me calm as I pulled out of my parking spot. Once I did so, I looked over to her and smiled.

“And I couldn’t be happier about it.”


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 2083
> 
> Author’s Note: This is mentioned in the chapter, but I just want to make sure it’s super clear that there’s a time jump! This is a little more than a year after the last chapter, aka the night before the wedding. I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

You grabbed one of the boxes off the top shelf and passed it down to Tyler, who was standing near your hip. He took it from you and set it down among the others, fanning away some of the dust as he did so. Since tomorrow was your wedding, you and Tyler had decided to pull down all your old boxes of memories and look at some of the things that you had decided to keep throughout the course of your relationship before you started a new chapter together.

“I think that’s everything,” you said, feeling around the shelf one more time to make sure nothing was hidden in a dark corner.

“I didn’t realize you had so many of these,” Tyler said, looking around the small pile at his feet. “We have a lot to go through.”

“We don’t have to look through everything, just the important stuff.”

Tyler held a hand out to you and helped you jump down from the chair you had been standing on. Together, you carried the boxes downstairs. Now that summer had finally come again, you often found yourselves in the living room with the windows open, enjoying the warm breeze and each other’s company. The last couple months since the hiatus began had been peaceful, to say the least.

“Where do we even start?” Tyler asked. He was now sitting cross legged on the floor across from you, his hands rested on his knees.

“Wherever you want. You know all of my deepest, darkest secrets now, so not much is off limits.”

Tyler’s mouth slowly grew into a smile. You watched him for a moment, wondering if he had some sort of plan, but he simply said, “Ok.”

You grabbed a box near you and slowly took the top off. Based on the things you could see on the top of the pile inside, it held memories from a few years ago, right around the time that Tyler had been working on writing Blurryface.

“Hey, look at this!” Tyler said, grabbing a photo from the box he was looking in. “We’re so small.”

He passed the photo over to you. It was of you and Tyler at one of his basketball games, most likely taken by either his mom or sister. The two of you were sitting on the sidelines, evidently before a game had started based on the lack of sweat on Tyler’s face. Tyler had one arm around you and you were both smiling, but you could tell by your expression that you were trying to hide how excited you were about snuggling up next to Tyler.

“Look at my face,” you laughed. “My smile is so dorky.”

“ _Your_ smile is so dorky? Look at mine!”

“You look cute! I look like I’m trying not to pass out from excitement.”

“Maybe we were both just dorks in high school,” Tyler said, taking the picture back from you.

“Would you ever have thought that those dorky kids would end up getting married?”

“I think there were a couple people that thought it might happen, but I thought I was always going to be too scared to tell you how I feel.”

“Was putting your arm around me your way of trying to hint at it?”

“Maybe,” Tyler laughed.

You turned back to your box of things and started to dig through it. There were all sorts of things in there, ranging from pictures of Max when he was a newborn to bits of Tyler’s lyrics that you had held on to.

“Wait, look at this,” you smiled, grabbing a piece of plastic from inside the box. “It’s my pass for when I came along on the Quiet is Violent tour.”

“And then we had to rush home from Mexico because Marenna was starting to go into labor?”

“Yes,” you laughed. “I think that was the most stressful day of my life.”

Tyler reached out and grabbed the pass from you and looked over it. “Do you keep all of your passes?”

“Of course I do. I keep everything, Ty.”

“I knew that,” he smiled. “I just didn’t know if it was deemed important enough for the box.”

“It’s my fiancé’s tour! Obviously it’s going to go in the box.”

“Soon to be husband.”

“I know, I can hardly believe it.”

Tyler handed the pass back to you and you carefully tucked it away into the box among the rest of the things. You continued to look for other interesting trinkets, but didn’t come up with much. Tyler, on the other hand, seemed to be finding all sorts of treasures.

“Wait, I remember this!” he grinned, pulling a crumpled piece of notebook paper out of one of the boxes. Your handwriting on the front was unmistakable.

“Oh no.”

“Will you finally read it to me now?”

“Let me look at it first. Just because we’re getting married now doesn’t mean this is any less embarrassing.”

Tyler reluctantly passed the letter off to you. You gently unfolded it and scanned the first paragraph, unable to hold back a shy smile as you did so. Although your feelings hadn’t changed since you wrote the letter - if anything, they had grown stronger - there was still a tinge of embarrassment as you remembered what things had been like when you were fifteen.

“Are you going to read it to me?”

“Ok, ok, I’ll read it.” You cleared your throat and glanced at Tyler once more before you began to read. “Dear Tyler, I’m writing this letter to you because there’s something very important that I have to tell you. I’ve been trying to find the right way to say this, and after a lot of thinking I’ve decided that the best way is to tell you through writing, because every time I want to tell you in person, I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Did you actually?” he asked.

“Yes, do you remember that time that we were hanging out in your backyard and I told you I needed to tell you something and then said that my stomach hurt?”

“That sounds familiar.”

“That’s why,” you laughed. “Anyway, continuing on. Tyler, I like you. I _like_ like you. I don’t know if you’ll even believe me because you’re my best friend and I know we joke around with one another a lot, but I mean this completely seriously. I’ll even pinky promise you if you ask. And in case you still aren’t convinced, I made a list down below of twenty reasons I think you’re the coolest and cutest guy on Earth.”

“Yes, this is my favorite part,” Tyler grinned.

“Number one: good at basketball. Number two: fluffy hair. Number three: pretty eyes.”

“Do you still think my eyes are pretty?”

“I still believe everything that I wrote on this list,” you smiled. Tyler’s cheeks quickly flushed red. “Do you want me to keep going?”

“Yes, I’ve been waiting years to hear the rest of this list.”

“Number four: luscious lips, with a heart next to it, no less. Number five: a really cute smile. And dimples. Number six: really nice laugh. Number seven: the best singing, and talking, voice I’ve ever heard. Number eight: good dance moves. Number nine: you always tell the best jokes. Number ten: you never fail to make me smile. Oh no, this is where it starts to get really sappy.”

“You said you would read it to me,” he pouted, sticking out his lower lip.

“I will! I just might get a little emotional,” you laughed.

Tyler scooted closer so that he could rest a hand on your knee, gently rubbing his thumb along it. You looked up at him and smiled.

“Alright. Number eleven: you always seem to know when I’m feeling down and can cheer me right back up again. Number twelve: you always let me play the music I like when we hang out, even if it’s not your favorite. Number thirteen: I know you’ll always have my back. Number fourteen: I feel like the most important person in the room when you’re around. Number fifteen: you’ve never once turned your back on me, even if we get in an argument. Number sixteen: you sing to me when I’m sad. Number seventeen: you didn’t ditch me, even when you got on varsity basketball and became popular. Number eighteen: you allow me to totally be myself when we hang out, even if I’m kind of dorky. Number nineteen: you’re somehow super attractive _and_ super cool. Number twenty: you’re genuinely the funniest, sweetest, most supportive guy that I’ve ever met and I would be stupid _not_ to have a crush on you.” This was when you really started to get emotional. Tears started to brim in your eyes, threatening to spill over. Tyler took notice, but let you finish speaking before saying anything. “So, Tyler, that’s why I have a crush on you. I know we agreed that we would always be friends, but unfortunately you’re too cool and I ended up having feelings for you. Even if you don’t return them, hopefully this doesn’t ruin our friendship and we can just pretend this never happened. Love, Y/N.”

“I don’t think that was embarrassing at all,” Tyler said, pulling you closer as you folded up the paper. “Fifteen year old Tyler would have been happy to read that. Why are you crying?”

“They’re happy tears,” you explained, wiping one away with the back of your finger. “It’s just… I remember sitting at my desk and writing this out when I was younger. I was already pretty sure that I wasn’t going to give it to you because I knew you didn’t feel the same, but a small part of me still wanted to just to test it out. I never did, obviously, and as time went on I started to lose hope and then the truth or dare incident happened, which confirmed my fears, and when you dropped out of college, I really thought that was going to be the end for us. Never in a million years did I expect to be sitting here with you, on the night before our wedding in our house, looking over these letters and realizing that everything I dreamt of came true.”

Tyler pulled you even closer so that your knees were pressed together. He took the paper from you, setting it back in its proper box, and then took hold of your hands. You looked up at him, feeling a bit embarrassed about the fact that you were crying.

“I’m sorry that I ever made you feel that way, and let me tell you, I wish every day that I had just ignored the things my head was telling me and told you how I felt the very first day that I realized I was in love with you. I never, ever want to make you feel like that again.”

You shook your head, “It’s ok, Ty. The past is the past, and all that matters is that we’re together now.”

“I love you so much, Y/N. I swear I could spend hours talking about you.”

“Save it for tomorrow, Joseph.”

“Maybe I will, _Y/L/N_.”

“Can’t call me that for long,” you grinned.

“I know.”

Tyler rested a hand on the side of your face and pulled you towards him until your lips met in the middle. All of your worries were quickly forgotten as the world faded away until nothing was left but you and Tyler.

He finally pulled away, resting his forehead against yours. You took a moment to admire his chocolate brown eyes up close. It was something you would never get tired of.

“Do you think I should finish writing my vows?” Tyler whispered.

“Ty!” you smiled, leaning back. “Have you not finished writing?”

“I’m kidding! I finished them last week. It was easy once I realized all I had to do was talk about how much I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I can’t believe we’re actually getting married tomorrow,” he said, idly playing with your hands.

“I know, it doesn’t feel like it’s actually happening.”

“But it is,” he smiled.

His eyes slowly met yours, instantly bringing heat to your cheeks. Every day you found yourself wondering how you had been lucky enough to fall in love with someone like Tyler. There was nobody else you would rather spend the rest of your life with.

“I can’t wait to marry you.”


	23. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> Word Count: 1191
> 
> Author’s Note: This is it, the very last chapter of Rose Colored Boy. Thank you so much to everyone who stuck with this series, it means the absolute world to me. I hope you enjoy the end :’)

“I now present to you, for the first time as a married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph!”

Tyler took hold of your hand and together you walked back down the aisle, unable to keep your eyes off of one another. It was surreal to be surrounded by all of your friends and family, finally marrying the guy you had been in love with since you were a kid. You were pretty sure this was the happiest you had ever been.

Tyler led you out into the hall. The cheers and applause instantly came to a stop as the door slammed closed, providing you and Tyler with your first moment alone all day. You two found an empty room down a small hallway, out of the way of all the people that would eventually start to filter out towards the reception. The two of you had come to the agreement the night before that you would want a moment to yourselves before joining everyone at the reception.

“We’re married,” was the first thing out of your mouth. It had been bouncing around in your head since the moment you had been deemed husband and wife, and you needed to get it out in the open, just to confirm that this wasn’t some crazy dream that was playing out in your head.

“We’re married,” Tyler smiled, reaching out to rest his hands on your hips.

You wrapped your hand around his neck and quickly pulled him towards you, crashing your lips together. Tyler smiled and kissed you again and again, wrapping his arms around your waist until your body was pulled close to his.

“I love you so much,” Tyler finally said. He was staring deeply into your eyes, a smile still plastered across his face.

“I love you too, Ty.”

“I mean,” he shook his head. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

Your eyebrows furrowed, “For what?”

“For teaching me that the one thing I was scared of for so long was exactly what I needed.”

“You deserve all the ways that you’re loved, Tyler, by me and everyone else.”

“But mostly you,” he laughed before pulling you into another kiss.

“Your ring turned out really nice,” you said, grabbing Tyler’s hand so that you could look at it up close. “The black was a good choice.”

“Let me see yours again?”

You held up your other hand so that Tyler could get a closer look at your ring. After some debate, you had decided on something simple to go along with your engagement ring, which you were still in love with even a year later. It rarely came off your hand.

“I did a good job,” he laughed.

“Are you talking about me or the ring?”

“Both.”

You smiled and pressed a quick kiss to Tyler’s cheek, but quickly realized your mistake when you saw the lipstick stain.

“Oh no,” you frowned.

“What did you do?”

“Just got a little bit of lipstick on you, no big deal.”

“Does it look nice?” he asked.

“Gorgeous,” you laughed.

You used your thumb to gently wipe the makeup off of Tyler’s cheek. It took you a bit of effort to completely get rid of the mark, but you managed.

“Did you get it?”

“Good as new.”

“Thank you.”

“I can’t believe you’re my wife now,” Tyler grinned, wrapping his arms around you once again. “How did I get so lucky?”

“I don’t think it was luck, Ty,” you said, brushing a couple strands of hair out of his face. “I think some people are just meant to be together.”

“Well then I’m happy that you’re the person that I’m meant to be with.”

“Me too.”

“Do you think Carter is going to give you crap about finally being a Joseph?”

“Are you kidding?” you laughed. “This is the moment he’s been waiting for since we started dating. We’re never going to hear the end of it.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Speaking of Carter and the rest of our family, we should probably join everyone else at the reception before they start to have a fit.”

“Already? Can’t we have just a few more minutes?”

“Ty, we’re leaving for our honeymoon in a couple days. We’ll have all the time in the world to spend together, just the two of us.”

“Alright, point taken.” Tyler gave you one more kiss before releasing his arms and taking a step back from you. “Do I still look ok?”

You reached out and adjusted Tyler’s tie, making sure it was straightened out. Once you did that, he took a look in the mirror and made a minor adjustment to his jacket.

“How do I look?” you said, stepping up next to him.

“Stunning, as always.”

You rested a hand on his shoulder and took a moment to admire the two of you in the mirror before you had to go. There was no way you were still going to look this nice by the end of the night.

“Before we leave,” he added, digging around in his pocket. “I want to get a picture of us.”

“Aren’t we getting professional pictures done?”

“Yes, but there’s something special about a picture we took when nobody else was around.”

“I’ve taught you well,” you smiled.

The two of you posed for a couple pictures before you decided you had hidden away from everyone else long enough and it was time to go. After a few more adjustments of your outfits, Tyler turned to you.

“Ok, are you ready to go, Mrs. Joseph?” he grinned.

“Lead the way, Mr. Joseph,” you laughed.

Tyler held a hand out to you. You laced your fingers between his and followed after him as he began to lead you out of the room.

You looked up at Tyler as you walked towards the reception, admiring him up close before he was pulled away from you by family members and friends. There were a million things in your head that you wanted to tell him, but you kept them inside for now. You had the rest of your lives to let him know all the reasons you loved him.

“What are you staring at?” he laughed when he eventually noticed you staring.

“My handsome _husband_ ,” you smiled. He shook his head, but you could tell by the pink tinge to his ears that he had appreciated the compliment.

You couldn’t help but think back to the night when your feelings for Tyler had first been revealed, when the two of you sat on the garden wall too many feet apart and he insisted that he didn’t feel any differently about you. Sometimes you wished you could go back and tell yourself how things had turned out, how happy you would end up being, that you just needed to have a little - a lot - of patience.

That what had felt like the end turned out to be just the beginning.

“I love you, Ty,” you said, giving his hand a light squeeze.

He turned to you and smiled, returning the gesture. “I love you too.”

You had never been so happy to prove someone wrong.

**THE END OF ROSE COLORED BOY.**


End file.
